I'm Sorry You're an Idiot
by TrisakAminawn
Summary: Aerie has had a series of unfortunate accidents and is now trying to make her way home across several universes. Current stop: The Inuverse. And with her come...pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. Has a real plot. Is discontinued.
1. Of Broomsticks and Sits

Dedication: ------------- original dedication on this piece struck.

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha. Don't even _want _to own Inuyasha. I'd say I owned Aerie, but then she'd beat me up. Ah, well, at least I can lay claim to the plot….Aerie, you liar! This never actually happened to you! Give me that back!…Ahem. Moving on.

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Aerie woke up. She had gone to bed in a wigwam beside a river, but she definitely wasn't there now, because she could feel planed boards under her back. Most people would have been very startled by waking up somewhere quite different than where they went to sleep, but this had already happened to her three times, and she was adjusting. Time to see where she'd wound up this time. She opened her eyes. A very annoyed, surprisingly familiar face stared down at her. Tawny eyes, fangs, silver hair, and those absurd ears…. She groaned and shut them again.

"Please tell me," she calmly begged the universe at large, "That Inuyasha is not standing over me."

"Sorry," another girl's voice replied, "Can't do that."

"You _could_," corrected another voice, that of an old woman, "It just wouldn't be _true_."

Aerie sighed. "So he _is_ standing over me, and in a minute he will probably go 'Keh,' and start being his usual charming self, and then Kagome will probably sit him," she said, her eyes still closed. "This is insane," she proclaimed.

"What the _hell!_" said Inuyasha. Aerie sighed. She _never_ dreamed like this. It either made so much sense that she never questioned it, or made no sense at all, or she wasn't herself in the dream but someone else, and all events made perfect sense to that someone else. So this must be real. Just weird even by her standards. You could go inside a _manga?_ She sat up. She was in a very Japanese building, with Inuyasha, a girl who was less utterly identifiable due to being fairly ordinary but was probably Kagome, and an old woman who had to be Kaede. She looked a lot more dignified flesh-and-blood than drawn in ink.

"Er - hello." she said. "Would any of you know how I got here?"

"Who are you?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Oh, yeah. Right. Forgetting my manners." She dragged herself upright. Her back felt like she'd fallen off a roof. It was amazing she hadn't woken up right away. "I'm Aerie Gannon." she said. "From Massachusetts, United States of America. Er, born," she hunted for a date that would mean something to anyone besides Kagome, "Uh, Higurashi, what year is it on your end of the well?"

"Two thousand five." said Kagome, looking mystified.

"And you're fifteen, right?" Kagome nodded. "Born one year after Kagome, then." She extended her hand to Inuyasha, who was the only one near enough. He looked at it for a moment, then raised his eyes and looked at her as if wondering if she would do something that made sense anytime soon. She wilted visibly. "Oh," she mumbled, "Right. You don't shake hands around here, do you? I would bow, except I'd just do it wrong." Curse it, _every time_ she did something like that she felt stupider than the last time. "So, you're Kagome, Kaede, and Inuyasha? Honored," she said, changing the subject.

"That's us, and likewise, I'm sure," said Kagome, "But how do you know?"

"Oh…." said Aerie. Trying to explain that they were the subjects of an extremely popular manga and anime where she came from would take a lot of work. And probablt be a bad idea in all kinds of ways. "My Gramma used to tell me stories about you," she said instead. This wasn't exactly a lie. She had read the Inuyasha mangas as a sort of a tribute to her grandmother's memory. The dear old woman had owned the whole anime on DVD and had watched it repeatedly. She had liked to tell Aerie her favorite parts of the plots. "I don't even speak Japanese," she muttered, "Especially not _feudal_ Japanese."

"I don't speak _feudal_ Japanese either." Kagome replied. "It just kind of…comes naturally once you're here."

"If you say so." Aerie replied.

"What are you doing here anyway, wench?" Inuyasha snapped, breaking an uncharacteristic silence.

"Damned if I know." Aerie snapped back.

"You're polite." remarked Kaede.

"I'm freaked." said Aerie. "I'm in a room with a miko, an inu-hanyou, and-" she smiled weakly at Kagome. "Sorry. Every epithet I can think of for you is either pathetic or potentially insulting."

"And you think 'inu-hanyou' is a _polite_ thing to call me?" Inuyasha said, ire definitely roused.

"No," snapped Aerie, "In fact, considering you're one, all the other inu-hanyou's must hide their faces in shame to bear the title." Inuyasha snarled and lunged at her.

"_Osuwari!_" Kagome shouted. Inuyasha plummeted face-first to the ground…right…on top…of Aerie. They vanished through the floor with a loud splintering and dual shouts of protest. A moment later there was a thud.

"Kagome," said Kaede, "Did you have to do that to my floor?"

"Sorry, Kaede-baba." replied Kagome. A muffled groan issued from the hole, followed by an equally muffled '_Gerroff me._'

Kagome relaxed slightly. "I guess she's alright." she said. There were an assortment of noises of the I-just-got-bashed-through-a-floor variety, and Inuyasha's head appeared over the lip of the hole.

"Do I have to pick her up?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"This…_ningen_…fainted directly after telling me I was way heavier than I looked. Do I have to pick her up now?"

"Yes." Inuyasha sighed and vanished into the floor again, reappearing with Aerie over his shoulder. He dumped her at Kagome's feet.

"Happy?"

"No," replied Kagome, stretching the other girl out.

"Nothing seems to be to serious," Kaede announced after a cursory inspection, which meant nothing that would take more than a couple of weeks to heal or anything that would result in crippling or death.

Aerie opened her eyes. "Kagome," she said weakly, "You baka. I'm not half demon like dog-boy over there. I don't get magically better when you drop a spell on me."

"I didn't drop a spell on you. I dropped _dog-boy_ on you. And I didn't do it on purpose."

"Well, that makes it alright then." said Aerie sarcastically, before slipping back into unconsciousness.

"Well," said Kagome, sitting back on her heels, "I'd say this one has the Miss Untactful of the year pretty much wrapped up."

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It took Aerie three days to heal. It probably should have taken longer, but she was in a hurry. Miroku and Sango had just gotten back from Sango's latest trip to her village, and the gang was moving out soon. Shippou had been there all the time, just not in the room when she arrived. He had developed a liking for her during her recuperation. Lucky her. He was cute, and it wasn't as if she had anything better to do than play with him. Kagome didn't seem to mind her, either, when she was around, and Kaede was hard to read, but Inuyasha despised her. It wasn't any kind of burning hatred like he felt for Naraku, or even the kind of feeling he had about Sesshomaru, just a low-grade dislike and disdain. Not that she really minded. She didn't much care for him, either. She had always felt people ought to be understanding about his gruffness, but the truth was it was a lot easier to be understanding about a character in a manga than about someone you actually had to deal with. It did cause a problem for her, though, because she was going with them when they left. They weren't going to be happy about it, but she was going.

They weren't happy about it.

"_You?_" Inuyasha spat. "Feh, you'd be worse than useless."

Aerie narrowed her eyes. "Would I?" she asked.

"You would." the hanyou affirmed. "You're human, you have no powers, and you are untrained. You couldn't possibly do any good."

"_Oh?_"

"Aerie," said Kagome, "As much as I hate to admit it, Inuyasha's right. You can't help us. Stay in the village and wait for Kaede-baba to figure out how to get you home." The Bone-eater's Well hadn't let her through when Kagome, anxious to get her back to her proper year, had tried, which was just as well as far as Aerie was concerned. She was far enough from home as it was, she didn't need to go messing around with time-warping things. What if she got back home but it was five hundred years after she'd left?

"No." she said. "I'm coming. The Shikon no Tama is an interesting artifact, and this world is a fascinating one, and I am _not_ going to sit in a village pretty much like a hundred thousand others and _wait_. Waiting is not what I do." Although these three days had been educational…

"For the last time, wench, you aren't coming. You're useless." Inuyasha repeated.

Aerie's eyes flashed. She knew she was going to regret this, but didn't care. It was always like that. Very bad character trait, she'd always felt, but it did mean that people took you seriously, as long as you pulled things off. "That's it." she said. "I am not going to be insulted by you again, dog-breath." She turned around, and, seeing a villager with a number of broomsticks over his shoulder and one snapped one in his hand, hailed him. "Hey! Can I have that?" she asked.

"Hai…." he replied hesitantly, approaching her. She got along OK with people here, but she hung around with that peculiar crowd with the Inuyasha. And anyway, she was too tall and all the wrong colors, and she wore weird clothes. And given the fuss people made about Kagome's school uniform around here, she supposed worn-out jeans and a black T-shirt could seem pretty odd.

"Thanks." She took the broken broom and pulled the head off. The ends where it had broken were jagged. The two staves were about half again the length of her arm. She offered one, splintery end first, to Inuyasha. He regarded it with the same expression he had favored her hand with the day she had arrived, with perhaps a bit more scorn. "Take it then, you baka-inu." she directed. "Or are you afraid you'll get a splinter?" His lip curled and he jerked it from her. Judging from the slight change in his expression, he _had_ gotten a splinter.

"What is this about?" asked Miroku, wandering up. He had propositioned Aerie directly after meeting her, like he did all pretty girls, and there was no denying Aerie was pretty. Not a raving beauty, certainly, but her river of pale brown hair was nice and, in ancient Japan, somewhat exotic, and her face, if distinctly stubborn, was quite good looking. He had gotten a harder slap than even Sango usually gave for his trouble. Other than that, they got along quite well. Aerie had an interesting little trick of catching a wandering hand and bending the pinkie finger back until you wanted to yelp. It was almost as painful as being stabbed, if much more temporary, and a much better deterrent than any number of slaps. He had begged her not to teach it to Sango. Just now, she was looking particularly dangerous.

"Quite simple." she replied. "Dog-breath here has been insulting me for the past five minutes. I _really_ don't like being insulted."

"She wants to come with us, monk." snapped Inuyasha. "You know we can't have a human girl-child along who won't do a shred of good and will probably get herself killed and then we'll _all_ feel guilty-" he caught himself. "Anyway, she can't come."

She prodded him with her half broomstick. "Hey, fatso, I'm talking to you." she said. "Duel."

He snorted. "Feh. Surely you're joking."

"I am _not_. Duel. Now."

"With broomsticks?" Miroku asked mildly, raising his eyebrows.

"I haven't got a sword," responded Aerie, smiling sweetly, "And even had I, that blade of his would slice right through it. Besides, someone might get hurt if we used real swords, and I'd feel just _awful_ if I cut off Inuyasha's head by mistake."

"Aerie, I don't think you know what you're doing." said Kagome seriously. "Inuyasha is dangerous. He could kill you by accident."

"I wouldn't lower myself-"

"Osuwari."

Inuyasha crashed to the ground and Aerie bent over him. "What's the matter, Inu? Scared I might make a fool of you?"

"I am _not_ scared of _you!_" he spat out, along with some dirt and a few pebbles.


	2. Of Giggling and Annoying Inuyasha

Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi knows what she's doing. If I were her, I would know what I was doing instead of floundering along the way I do. Please draw appropriate conclusion.

* * *

Helpful flashback: _"Aerie, I don't think you know what you're doing." said Kagome seriously. "Inuyasha is dangerous. He could kill you by accident."_

_"I wouldn't lower myself-"_

_"Osuwari." Inuyasha crashed to the ground and Aerie bent over him. _

"_What's the matter, Inu? Scared I might make a fool of you?"_

"_I am _not_ scared of _you_!" he spat out, along with some dirt and a few pebbles._

"Fine. Prove it. And if I win, I get to come along." Inuyasha sneered at this idea, and they faced off as their friends backed away. "Now, before we start, no hair pulling, no biting, and no using those claws of yours -" he opened his mouth to sneer at her for cowardice " - on the weapons. No fair slicing my stave." He nodded grudgingly and struck. Kagome saw Aerie dodge. She ducked his next few attacks, as well, watching him, learning the way he moved, then engaged. Kagome could hear the broomsticks meet repeatedly, as one blocked a swing from the other. Sometimes they met flesh, with a thwack and sometimes a yelp or a yip or a curse. Many times they found only air. Inuyasha had not expected her to be so good. In fact, he couldn't believe it. She moved faster than a human ought to. Their friends were mostly tracking the battle by sound. If they had been using real blades, there would have been much blood in the air by now. Actually, she probably would have been dead. He definitely had the advantage, all told, but she was so _fast_ and so damned good at defending herself - well, humans had a harder time healing, so of course she'd be more careful of her body. Finally, it was a tricky bit of maneuvering that did him in. She got a foot in behind his heel and jerked it back, bringing him down more ignominiously than any 'sit', and placed her broom handle at his throat. "Yield?" she panted. He wasn't tired. If they had kept going much longer he would have beaten her. But she had won. Slowly he nodded. She lowered her 'sword.' "Nice." she said. "I really am impressed. I thought that would be easier than it was." She offered him a hand up and he took it, considering throwing her but deciding that it would be childish.

"Ningen?" he said uncertainly when he was on his feet again. She nodded.

"Not that I like it." Miroku was the first to recover from the shock He rushed over to the two opponents, draping an arm over Aerie's shoulders and steering her toward Kagome and Shippou. The little kitsune had been screaming the entire time for whoever he thought was winning not to kill the other one. "Hey, Sango," Aerie called to the taijiya, who she saw approaching. "I found out how not to be groped by Miroku! Just beat Inuyasha in a duel!"

"Say what?" Sango asked.

"I found out -" Aerie began.

"No, the second bit." Sango cut her off.

"Just beat Inuyasha up." Sango closed her eyes and counted to seventeen. Then she demanded an explanation.

* * *

"So where are we going?" Aerie asked cheerily. Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Right after knocking him into the dust, she had reverted to her prior aggravating self. She smiled too much. You couldn't tell what she was thinking. It probably wasn't absolutely nothing, as he had thought before, though. No one as utterly dumb as she acted could fight like that.

"There's news of a demon with Shikon no Kakera near a village to the east." Kagome told her.

"So we're going to go east until we somehow bump into it?" Aerie said.

"Sango knows where it is." Kagome replied. She sounded like she was running out of patience, too. Perhaps sensing this, Aerie dropped back to walk beside Miroku so she and Shippou could annoy one another.

"How do you stand her?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. She sighed.

"I've been wondering that myself," she admitted. Behind them, a discussion on much the same topic could be heard, if one cared to listen.

"You're really ticking them off, Aerie," Miroku said. "Especially Inuyasha. Why?" He had reason to ask. When she was not around Inuyasha, Aerie was quite charming. Either there was a personality clash of atomic proportions going on here, or Aerie was doing it on purpose. "You're making them hate you," he continued. She chuckled - she never giggled unless Inuyasha was there to annoy.

"True," she said, "But look at those two. They haven't had an argument all day. Inuyasha's too busy disliking me."

"You're kidding," said Miroku. "You're being annoying on purpose just so they'll get along?" The girl nodded. "That's insane," the Hoshi said flatly, "Don't you care if they like you?" She shrugged.

"No one likes me anyway." Miroku promptly turned to Shippou and said with great cheer,

"Hello, no one! Wonderful to meet you! I'm nobody. Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" Aerie blushed.

"Okay, so you're not no one," she replied. "I just meant…."

"Lonely years behind you, eh? Well, it's sweet of you, but - stop. Inuyasha may not be as cold as he pretends, but if you get him to hate you he's hardly going to risk his neck for you." Aerie nodded.

"Alright." They halted suddenly. Sango had stopped and they had caught up with her.

"We're here," she said. She glanced at Kagome, who nodded.

"Yes, there's a shard here," she said, "Right…there." She pointed to a modest dwelling near the edge of the settlement.

"In the village?" said Miroku, rather startled.

"Yeah…" said Kagome, sounding surprised herself. "In that house."

"Strange," agreed Sango.

"I don't see what's so strange about it." Aerie said. "Either there's a demon staying in a human village or a human has a shard. Miroku was in a village when you caught up with him." Inuyasha 'keh'ed, Kagome stayed absorbed in thought, staring at the village, Miroku flushed, Shippou laughed, and Sango shot Aerie a glance. Someday she was going to wring out of that girl exactly how she knew what she knew. Cautiously. If Aerie could beat Inuyasha, she was not going to be that easy a nut to crack.

They went down the hill and into the village. As usual, they drew stares. The monk was normal, the demon exterminator at least…okay, but Inuyasha and Shippou looked, as usual, out of place, and Kagome's clothes always looked weird. Now they had Aerie, who was wearing the black jeans and Tshirt she had arrived in. They looked just…strange. They got to the house Kagome had pointed out and paused. Kagome looked at Sango. Sango looked at Miroku. Miroku looked at Inuyasha. Then they all turned and looked at Kagome again. Kagome shrugged. Aerie, feeling slightly put out at being left out of the loop, said,

"Oh, _hells_," and knocked on the door. It started to open….

* * *

Ngahngahngah….What will emerge…? OK, enough of that. I hope you _all_ (Ahem. The existence of one single beloved reviewer is here noted. Go biggest anime fan!) enjoyed that, because I did. If anyone is offended that I gave my heroine the skill with a sword to beat our favorite inu, I'm sorry, because I know the giving of random talents always ticks _me_ off, if it's not handled very, very carefully. I hope I did so, and alsomade it clear that if it had been a _real_ battle, where getting hit was getting sliced and Inuyasha was using all his abilities instead of just a broomstick, she would have lost. She would have, too. She may have been taught by elves, but she's basically human. Let me also say in my defense that she's been able to fight like that as long as I can remember, so I didn't just do that for the sensationalism of it, and-

**Inuyasha:** That was not fair.

**TrisakAminawn(the human faker):** Oh, yeah? Why's that?

**Inuyasha:** She had the Sakusha on her side. I never had a chance.

**Trisak:** Inuyasha, every single fight you have, who wins is pre-decided. Every time _you_ beat someone it's because _you_ have the Sakusha on _your_ side.

**Inuyasha: **That's no fun. I move for rebellion!

**Kagome:** Ssshh. Keep your voice down. If she finds out….

**Inuyasha: **Oh, damn….

**Trisak:** Stay posted for these and other interesting developments-and-Aerie-put-that-chainsaw-down-this-instant-

Augh! That was scary. I think I will consider carefully before letting them talk again; they keep getting out of control. OK, people, or person, whatever, review this and read the next chapter or I will take Aerie's chainsaw and come after you….Kidding! Kidding! May you fare well wherever you fare, and eyries receive you at journey's end.


	3. Of Kindly Goblins and Ticklish Youkai

Disclaimer: Inuyasha & co. are the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi, and she is not me. There. Satisfied? If not, and you still want to sue me, I've got a whole passel of bengoshi youkai (lawyer demons) that I'm just itching to sic on someone.

Authoress Note: Whoo-ha, yes, biggest anime fan, I am evil! Evil! Evil! And so are non-reviewers! You are non-evil. As is Wiccan Aviva, thank you very much and I cater to your wishes. OK, since that's _all_ my reviewers (Does my summary suck or something?) I guess now the story.

* * *

The door finished opening and the rather ugly head of a demon was stuck out. Instead of being just nasty and monstrous like most ugly demon's heads, it was as if he had made himself look human but not bothered with the bishiness factor, or even a great degree of accuracy, so a long, pointed pair of ears thrust upward through his green hair, and his nose was too long and his teeth were crooked, and his eyes were all squinty. He looked kind of like some sort of goblin.

"Yes?" he said. He blinked at them. "You aren't planning to take over the village, are you? Because then I'd have to defend it and probably get myself killed. But conquerors don't usually knock, do they?" The inu-taichi blinked back for a minute.

"But if we were going to attack, you could use that Shikon no Kakera you've got in there and make yourself stronger." Said Kagome at last. He chuckled.

"Goodness _no_, child! I'm rather fond of my soul. I have no interest in using that thing. I've been here for seventy years, and I like it. If you're not going to attack me, come in and have some tea." Inuyasha grumbled, but that ended up being exactly what they did. The long-eared fellow handed around cups of tea, which everyone drank except the inu, who just sat in the corner and said 'keh' every so often. "I'm Rath-tama," said their host, when they were all settled. "And you are…?"

"I'm Kagome, the monk is Miroku, the little one is Shippou, that's Sango with the boomerang, this is Aerie, and the grump in the corner is Inuyasha." Rath-tama nodded.

"Ah," he said, "You're _that_ group." He turned to Sango. "My condolences about your people." She choked on her tea. "Your father used to come through here every so often, to make sure I still had a handle on things. So," he said, "You're here for that bit of rock."

"Yes," admitted Kagome. Rath-tama stood up.

"Well, as long as you don't let _him_ get his hands on it," he said, nodding toward Inuyasha, "I'm quite willing to give it to you."

"Why him in particular?" Aerie asked. "Or do you just not like half-bloods?" Rath-tama chuckled.

"Goodness, my own grandmother was a half-blood. No, this lad just has a lot of potential for nastiness in him, and I'd hate to think of all of you all slashed up and dead." Inuyasha growled from the corner. Rath-tama looked at him. "If that was supposed to reassure me of their safety, it was monumentally unsuccessful." He informed him.

"I wouldn't hurt them," Inuyasha protested sulkily. Rath-tama's brow furrowed.

"Maybe you wouldn't, at that." he agreed, "But I wouldn't want to take that chance, were I you." He vanished into the next room, presumably to fetch the shard.

"He's…strange," said Sango.

"You'll find no arguments here," Miroku replied, "But he did agree with me."

"Eh?" said Sango.

"Right after Inuyasha killed a nasty blighter called the Peach Man on the night of the new moon, Miroku tried to tell Inuyasha something like that," said Aerie, "While the three of them were waiting for Kagome to get back. It was shortly before you met them. I don't think Inuyasha believed him. Didn't want to, anyway. But he did have visions of dead Kagome."

"Shut up." Inuyasha snapped. "Would you like it if I told everyone what you were thinking just because I knew?" Aerie looked taken aback for a minute, then bowed from her sitting position.

"You're absolutely right, Inuyasha-san." She said. "I apologize. Will you kindly forgive me?"

"Uh…." Kagome nudged his foot with her own.

"Just say yes," she whispered. He shrugged.

"Yes." At that moment Rath-tama reentered, holding a large shard of the Shikon no Tama with a tiny pair of tongs. He seemed to be treating the thing the way people would treat something radioactive in our reality.

"You wouldn't consider letting me keep it until I've finished my research, would you?" he asked Kagome. "It's not every decade you get a chance to examine something this powerful. No, eh?" he sighed. "Probably for the best. It's a relief to get rid of it, really. I've had to fight so many demons out for the power in this, and eventually _someone_ I'm responsible for is going to get hurt. Here." He dropped it into her hand. "Look after the blasted thing, will you?" Kagome nodded and then there was an uncomfortable minute while everyone tried to figure out what happened next. Usually after they got hold of a shard it was time to clean up after the battle, but there hadn't been one this time, and more than one person was just polite enough not to want to leave immediately after getting what they wanted out of him. Inuyasha was, of course, not among them.

"Alright, we've got the shard, let's go," he said, standing up.

"Inu, be polite," Aerie chided cheerfully. "We're guests. Let's at least finish our tea."

"I don't _have_ any tea."

"So go outside and frighten little children with that ugly mug of yours, if it makes you happy. _I'm_ going to finish my tea and talk with Rath-tama here."

"Feh," said Inuyasha. After a minute he did go outside, probably to keep watch for the approach of anything nasty.

"So what is it you do, Rath-tama-sama?" Aerie asked as the hanyou stalked off. He chuckled.

"Please. Leave off the 'sama.' I don't need the flattery, and 'tama-sama' sounds so silly. I look after this village, as I told you. I also…study."

"What do you study?" He shrugged.

"Everything, really. Or perhaps 'twould be more accurate to say, anything. That's what I was doing with the shikon shard, although studying it without touching it was ticklish work. Magics. Physics. Physic - medicine, that is. Anatomy. If your inu had gotten himself killed and I had found the body, I probably wouldn't have been able to resist cutting him up to find out how the demon and human physical traits had crossed."

"Do you cut people up a lot?"

"No," he said, sounding rather offended by the accusation suggested by her faintly suspicious tone, "I don't. I know how human and demon bodies work well enough without slicing up every corpse I come across."

"Sorry."

**

* * *

"OK, I think it's time to go. Shippou's going to burst with sitting still," said Miroku. They had been in Rath-tama's house for almost an hour, having a most interesting discussion. At least, Aerie, Rath-tama, and Miroku were interested in most of it, and Sango and Kagome in some of it, but the kitsune was bored out of his brains. Miroku had finally noticed.**

"Am not," Shippou said courageously, but the others proceeded to stand up and take their leave anyway.

"Thank you for a most informative afternoon," Aerie said to Rath-tama, bowing. She had gotten Kaede to teach her bows during her convalescence.

"And you for a most enjoyable one, even if you were trying to say nothing informative," the old demon replied, bowing back. The girl flushed, and he smiled. "You have secrets, but that is alright. I have secrets myself, that I would not discuss with a stranger. Fare well."

"Go well yourself," she replied. Then Miroku and Sango and Kagome said good-bye, and Shippou streaked out the door as soon as the last syllable was done.

Outside they found a very disgruntled Inuyasha, circlets of flowers around his neck and on his head, and several little girls sitting on and around him.

"_There_ you are!" he roared when he saw them, from his rather undignified position, sprawled on his stomach with two children on his back and one on his legs. "Did you have to take so long? I can't stand these little pestilences!" One of the girls, a taller one in orange, giggled and planted a kiss on his eye.

"We love you too, Inu-friend." She said cheerfully.

"Argh!" he shouted. "Leave me _alone!_" He stood up, catching the two girls with one arm as they tumbled off his back and setting them on the ground without looking at them.

"Whee!" they cried. "Do it again, Inu-san!" His friends were doing their best not to stare. Kagome was stifling giggles. He glared.

"I don't see why they like you so much," declared Shippou, clambering onto Miroku's shoulder. "_I_ don't."

"That's so _sweet_, Inuyasha," said Aerie.

"What?" he demanded. "They just wouldn't leave me alone! They weren't scared when I growled at them."

"Well, you could have-" began Kagome. Then Shippou launched himself toward Inuyasha, knocking Miroku off balance so that Sango caught him. Inuyasha batted him out of the air, knocking him to the petal-strewn ground, where he lay with a large bump on his head. "…done that." Kagome said.

"Shippou I can hit around. He's a demon, he can take it. He's fine in a few minutes. These little beasts are _fragile_."

"Aw, Inuyasha. I didn't know you cared." Kagome said, starry eyed. He flushed angrily.

"I didn't mean-" he said. Meanwhile, the girls had clustered around Shippou, who was sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Ooh, you're a demon too?" asked Orange Yukata. "Rath-tama hardly ever lets any in. And you're little like us, so you're almost as cute as Inu-friend."

"_Almost?_" asked Shippou.

"Well, just as cute then." said a smaller girl in pink. "Just ignore Kypri. She's fallen in love with Inu-san. Can I touch your tail?"

"Um…" said Shippou. She and one of the other girls were petting it anyway.

"Open up, Kitsune-chan. I don't have teeth like that. Ooh, see how sharp they are?" said another girl.

"Hie hame ih Hhgippou." Said the kitsune. The girls frowned in puzzlement.

"Say what?" He snapped at their fingers so that they drew them away and repeated,

"My name is Shippou. Please don't put your fingers in my mouth anymore."

"OK," they said cheerfully, "We'll look at Inu-san's teeth instead." Inuyasha stopped arguing with Kagome to say,

"What? I don't-" before they were heaving mightily at his legs and scrambling up his back. His super-poofy pants started to slide down, and as he grabbed at them the children unbalanced him and swarmed over him, pulling at his lips so they could see his 'pointy teeth.'

"These children," said Miroku, rubbing the latest bump Sango had given him,"Have no fear."

"Which is really strange," added Sango. "Not that they actually need to be frightened of our two demonic companions. Rath-tama must do a really good job protecting this village."

"I wonder…." Said Aerie.

"Mm?" said Kagome. Just then Inuyasha started laughing, giggling really.

"No, come on…. Stop it!" he cried, as Kypri wiggled her fingers under his arms and her companions gleefully followed suit.

"He's _ticklish?_" said Kagome with unholy glee. "Oh, I can_not_ pass this up!" She fell on the hanyou like a bolt from above. Aerie grinned.

"The poor guy," she remarked.

When Inuyasha finally escaped his tormentors - which involved jumping a ridiculous height, sending them rolling in every direction - the taichi left, although the girls clung to Inuyasha's jacket, begging him not to go, they were sorry and would never tickle him again.

"Feh," he said, sticking his nose in the air.

"It's not because we tickled him," Kagome said, "We just have to go. Maybe we'll visit again some time."

"Not bloody likely!" Inuyasha snapped. Kypri looked crestfallen.

"He doesn't like us," she said, and started to cry. Inuyasha looked uncomfortable.

"Look," he said, "Maybe I _could_ visit sometime…." Kypri grinned, the tears vanishing.

"Really?" she hugged his leg. "I love you, Inu-friend."

"Keh," he said. "Whatever."

* * *

"So," said Aerie, " 'Inu-san,' huh? Mr. Dog." Miroku kicked her in the ankle and she remembered how she wasn't being annoying anymore. The guy was sulking anyway. "Never mind."

"So where are we going?" Kagome asked eventually. "It's not like any of us are wounded, so going back to Kaede's would be silly."

"Guess we're going rumor-hunting again, then." replied Sango. "Just follow the inu."

At the end of the day, with the sun already set, Inuyasha at last stopped and said the first thing he had said since they left Rath-tama's village.

"OK, this seems like a good place to - _Argh!_" A spear-point had appeared through his chest and before his startled friends had a chance to do anything, he had been yanked into the undergrowth, dripping blood.

"After him!" cried Sango. They burst into the forest, pelting after the trail of blood and the sound of dragging. Sango and Aerie, in the lead, burst into a clearing and Aerie was nearly sick. Silver hair was knotted around an overhanging tree branch, a familiar head hanging from it…

* * *

Kukukukukuku….How do you like that! Yes, I know all of you were expecting a battle once the door opened, but -

**Inuyasha:** I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!

**Trisak: **You can't. I already killed _you_.

**Inuyasha:** That isn't fair! I can't _do_ anything about it in the middle of a chapter.

**Trisak: **The pen is mightier than the sword, dog-breath. Even the Tetsusaiga.

**Inuyasha: **_Goawarrrrgh!_

**Trisak: **Oh, shut up. You're not really dead anyway.

**Inuyasha: **I'm not?

**Trisak: **No. Dead people don't actually talk. Now be quiet and let the nice people read the next chapter.

**Inuyasha: **Keh.

OK, see? Like I told Inuyasha, he's not really dead. Only _he_ would actually have to be told that. Most of us know whether or not we're dead. But didn't it create a lot of suspense to let you _think_ he was? However, any fanfic where they actually killed him off _I_ probably wouldn't finish, so I'm telling you here that he IS NOT ACTUALLY DEAD. Got it? Good. Yes! He's ticklish! Kukuku! Oi, that was fun to write! And just once, somewhere, there had to be a perfectly decent demon who didn't even _want_ the Shikon no Kakera. _Had_ to. So I wrote him. I hope you liked Rath-tama. A Rath is a Celtic word for a faery fort, tama is (I think) Japanese for stone, or jewel, so I'm mixing cultures, don't care. Review me! _Please!_ I'm withering here. Wasting away for lack of acknowledgment. _Two_ people have reviewed this thing! _Two!_ Yes, you guys are worth it, but I'd still like someone else. cries Pretty-please? See ya!


	4. Of Revenge and Nastytasting Fabric

Disclaimer: I was only seven when the Inuyasha series first went into print. Furthermore I can count the Japanese words I know on my fingers…well, and my toes, too, I just did a mental count. Anyway, anyone who thinks I'm Takahashi needs their head examined.

Review replies (Yay, more than two!):

Biggest anime fan: You are the greatest. I can't remember which of my things you gave that outrageous compliment on, but take it back! You're much better than I. I'm just bumbling along…. And _no_, I won't show it to you. _None_ of it. I could show you a lot of the others, but this thing was years ago, poorly written and cliched. I ought to burn it. **Everyone who hasn't read 'Sesshoumaru, Sit!' should. It rocks. Plus, if you all review, maybe she'll post faster! (Such is my hope.)**I have posted six things in the time it took you to post the one. New chapter! Now! (Bangs biggest anime fan on head with Lack of Prop.) And I _do_ laugh, now, I learned last year, from the best history teacher in the world. (blows kiss to Ethan Richman).

NefCanuck: She _was_ when I first wrote her. Sickeningly perfect. That's one reason the book sucked. She's _trying_ to stop yanking his chain - or was; right now as far as she's concerned he's the one minus his head - but it's gotten to be a habit. Besides, it's fun!

'inu fan' : Hey, get self own pen name, it's fun even if you don't want to write anything…or if not, at least have some fun with wild'n'wacky one-time-use names! 'Dog fan' isn't any _fun_. OK, done with that. In actual reply - Well, I didn't kill him. 'Inuyasha' without Inuyasha would be…um…really bizarrely titled! Aerie (I think I said this in the first chapter….) has been popping in and out of assorted worlds for the past…four months or so, now, trying to get home. I'll explain it in a little more detail, since you asked. Goes like so: The Inuyasha universe is one of a whole host, as is our own. Aerie keeps ending up in different ones on her way home, getting tangled up in things, and getting yanked away again when the powers that be send her hurtling to the next one. She has no conscious control over when or where she goes at all, but if she's afraid for her life sometimes that sets it off. She has vanished in the middle of so many battles…!:) Picture it kind of like in 'The Homeward Bounders,' only she's actually homeward bound; every time she moves she's closer to home. Oh, and a lot of the time Trisak is there to help her out, but they mislaid each other two worlds ago.

Authoress' Note: I'd like to apologize for two things. One is the length of time it took me to post. I had to go to school again, which kept me busy, plus no matter what I did, this chapter refused to be funny. I went through five drafts. The first one was positively angsty. That's the other thing, because it's still not as funny as the others, but it's hard to make vowing-vengeance scenes funny! To do so would have required either the talents of Terry Pratchett (which I sadly lack) or turning this part of the story into something resembling a Punch and Judy show, which I did _not_ want to do. So, I'm sorry if it's not funny enough. I did my best

**

* * *

Recap: _At the end of the day, with the sun already set, Inuyasha at last stopped and said the first thing he had said since they left Rath-tama's village. _**Recap: 

"_OK, this seems like a good place to - Argh!" A spear-point had appeared through his chest and before his startled friends had a chance to do anything, he had been yanked into the undergrowth, dripping blood._

"_After him!" cried Sango. They burst into the forest, pelting after the trail of blood and the sound of dragging. Sango and Aerie, in the lead, burst into a clearing and Aerie was nearly sick. Silver hair was knotted around an overhanging tree branch, a familiar head hanging from it…._

"Shippou! Kagome! _Don't look!_" Sango shouted, a heartbeat too late. The rest of the group came pounding up behind them, saw the dangling head. Shippou yelped and shot away, Aerie and Miroku running after him. Kagome fell to her knees, hiding her head in her hands. Sango did her best to comfort her, but 'comfort' was not really what Sango was good at.

Aerie sped after Shippou, biting her lip, Miroku close behind. Inuyasha, dead? It couldn't happen in the manga. He was the title character, they _couldn't_ kill him off, not unless they were trying to end the story. Like the way Sherlock Holmes had been killed twice and then retired to Kent to grow cabbages. _Oh, shut up, _she said to the corner of her mind that was throwing up this trivia to distract her. This wasn't the manga, this was _real_…even though she'd been treating it like a game. She caught Shippou by the tail and swung him into her arms, trying to calm him down. He just cried harder. Aerie met Miroku's eyes as he caught up. They exchanged unhappy glances, then turned and headed back toward where they had left Kagome and Sango. Well, and that head…Aerie shuddered. She'd seen worse things, but somehow…she didn't want to go near the thing. They met the two women coming after them, and Aerie was surprised to see that Kagome's face showed no sign of tears.

"I'm going to find them," she said as the threesome approached.

"Huh?" was Aerie's brilliant comment.

"The ones who did it. They're going to _pay_." Her features were stony. "Do you know how many times Inuyasha fought to avenge me when he thought I was dead? I owe it to him. He didn't even get a fair fight. I'll get them if it takes the rest of my life." Aerie thought grimly that no fight was a fair one if Inuyasha was on one side. He had the luck of the gods. But it seemed to have deserted him.

"And the Shikon shards?" she asked, a final question since that had been Kagome's last quest and you have to wrap up old quests before starting new ones. Kagome waved a dismissive hand.

"I'll get them. After." 'After' the rest of her life would seem to necessitate coming back from the dead. "This is more important."

"I agree," said Sango, "I once set out to kill Inuyasha when I thought he'd killed my people; now we must avenge _him_." Aerie nodded. She remembered a time when she had pulled her enemy's castle down around his ears because he had convinced her her friends were dead. Miroku shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't know," he said uncertainly, "Revenge for revenge's sake…." All three females glared at him, and he shut up. Shippou had fallen asleep, presumably exhausted by tears and unwilling to face an Inuyasha-less world just then, but it was assumed he would have cast his vote for vengeance, since it was through his attempts to avenge his father that Inuyasha and Kagome had met him in the first place. They moved off, intersecting the trail that whoever had killed Inuyasha had left after beheading him, apparently dragging the body along, just past where they had left the head.

"They want us to follow," Aerie announced, just before the sun rose. She and Sango had been taking it in turns finding signs and resting their eyes, after she had let slip her skill with tracking, all night. The waning sliver of moon didn't cast much light, but it was too easy, really. A trail of bent grass blades, broken stems, and the occasional bloodstain or footprint proceeded with hardly a break from the place where they had found the trail. "For one thing, can any of you believe that someone who could kill Inuyasha could then _not_ be able to move any faster than these did, or could be weak or small enough to have to drag the corpse along?" Everyone shook their heads. "And besides, what the hell do they want with his body anyway?"

"But this is the only clue we have," said Kagome, glowering as she had been all night. "We can't stop."

"Of course not," Aerie said soothingly. "Just keep alert. This could be a trap."

"We have to rest," put in Miroku, "Soon. If we actually do catch this person, we're going to be too exhausted to do anything." Kagome surrendered to the inevitable gracelessly, but at last lay down between Sango and Shippou and went immediately to sleep. Miroku and Aerie exchanged glances.

"I'll take first watch, Miroku." Aerie said. "And wake you later."

"Mm," said Miroku, falling into his bedroll. Aerie wedged herself into the crotch of a tree to watch, figuring being squeezed like that would keep her awake. It had better. The last time she had fallen asleep on watch, she had woken up to find everybody else dead. That had been…two worlds ago…. _Oh, Trisak,_ ((_Not me!_ I stole the name! I confess!))she thought, _where are you?_

When Kagome was shaken awake she blinked and wondered momentarily why she felt so sad…oh. Inuyasha was dead. She bit her lip, then made her face carefully blank. She wasn't going to break down. Not until after her revenge.

"What is it?" she asked Miroku sleepily.

"Your turn on watch," he told her. "We're in an uncertain situation, and Inuyasha isn't here." That's right, Kagome thought, feeling a lump in her throat. They had always taken Inuyasha's sentry duty for granted. She stood up, brushing leaves out of her hair, her face feeling like it was made of stone. Miroku shot her a worried look, and she knew it was because she looked so cold.

"I'm on it," she said, stretching her face into something resembling a smile. Miroku, not looking at all reassured, went back to bed.

Kagome let her facial muscles relax, staring into the fire. She could feel the tears asserting themselves, but forced them down. She cast about for something else to concentrate on, and noticed that Aerie wasn't in her place. Puzzled, she stood up and walked toward the edge of the camp, looking to see if Aerie was nearby. As she passed Sango, she paused, hearing voices in the woods. She moved toward them.

"…kill him…" she heard. That was Aerie!

"…know nothing…" said a voice she didn't recognize.

"…girl…don't understand…sauerkraut…" responded Aerie. Kagome frowned. _Sauerkraut?_ She had to be mishearing, just like she was only catching a few words. She moved stealthily forward.

"…none of our business." Said the stranger.

"It's my…care about..."

"…can't stay."

"_Nani?!?_" Aerie cried. Kagome winced, since she had been straining to hear, the sudden volume of that comment hurt her ears. "_What do you mean you can't stay, you just got here…_" then Aerie lowered her voice again and Kagome resumed her approach.

"...need me…a gay new…. Hsst!" Kagome stiffened. "Someone's coming."

"Don't go!" Aerie exclaimed. "Damn," she said a moment later. Kagome burst into the clearing where the voices had been coming from, to find…absolutely nothing. It was empty. Kagome returned to camp, frowning, and found Aerie in her place, asleep.

"That was…really really weird," the girl muttered, resolving that she would eventually get Aerie to talk. She sat by her friends and acquaintance, lost in thought, until she noticed that it was Sango's watch. She woke the taijiya and went gratefully back to sleep.

When everyone had taken a watch and they were prepared to drag their bones onward, Kagome realized that they had wasted almost an entire day and got 'most agitated,' as Miroku put it.

"Jeesh. With this hurry-hurry you'd think she was channeling Inuyasha's spirit," mumbled Aerie. Then she realized what she had said and her hand flew to her lips. No one seemed to have heard her. They kept moving. It was an hour or so until sunset when Aerie, to her surprise, bumped into Kagome. Sango, in the lead again, had paused.

"What is it?" asked Kagome, but in a moment she saw. They had walked right smack-dab into someone's camp. The someone in question, dressed in green with long black hair, knelt with his back to them, apparently trying to build a fire. Kagome cleared her throat. "Excuse us?" she said. The person stood, turning, and bowed.

"Good day," he said, sweeping a bow and smiling at them as he straightened. The entire group had a hey-hang-on moment, and then Kagome asked uncertainly,

"I-Inuyasha…?"

**

* * *

**

When Inuyasha opened his eyes, he knew there was something wrong immediately. He still couldn't see anything. What the…? He tried to sit up, then let out a growl as he found he couldn't move. The growl sounded really strange, since he was gagged, too. He sniffed. He could smell metal, mostly, metal and his own sweat and breath. Ew. Maybe Aerie had a point, calling him 'dog breath,' not that he'd ever admit it. Wherever he was, the place was hot and confined and made of iron. The gag was cloth, though. Inuyasha started chewing.

The thing tasted awful. Like whoever had gagged him had made sure to soak it in something bitter first. Jeesh. Talk about inventive torture. As soon as the material parted and he ejected it from his mouth, he let out a stream of invective that would have made Kagome 'sit' him about six times. When he began to repeat himself, a voice said,

"Yes, yes, that's all very interesting, but it won't get you out of the chains, the box, or the cage." Iuyasha snarled, secretly relieved that someone was going to talk to him. Being unable to move or see, and there being nothing to hear and little to smell, would probably drive him mad if it lasted too long.

"What the hell is the idea here?"

"Well, I want the Shikon shards, obviously," his captor replied.

"I don't have them." Inuyasha pointed out.

"No, Kagome does," agreed the disembodied voice. Inuyasha blinked.

"Then why -"

"Didn't I kidnap her?" the voice cut him off. "I should think that was obvious. But then, your skills don't lie in scholastic endeavor, do they? My reasoning goes like so. She has been kidnapped before, and when this happened you came after her and killed her captors. If I had kidnapped her, I would shortly have had a hanyou, a taijiya, and a houshi with a cursed hand knocking on my door. This would be an undesirable outcome. I might win, but I might not. You are the most formiddable of an impressive grouping. Since I could take only one by surprise, I chose you. You can't harm me now. I can handle your friends. You're bait. Oh, and one other thing. It's the dark of the moon tonight. I have plans…."

**

* * *

**

Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Two cliffhangers in one chapter! Haha! I have sunk to new levels! But please don't hate me! I accessed my e-mail again once I got to school, ::scowls at evil home computer, too stupid to load e-mails:: and found those lovely reviews waiting for me. ::bawls:: I'm touched. (Oh, and to the person who sent me my sister's hate mail, I must say it was a new experience.) So, how can Inuyasha simultaneously be lying in a cage at some unspecified lair, standing with black hair in a forest, and hanging off a treebranch? This you must read the next chapter to discover. (Allright, the head in the forest was a fake. I'll give you that one.)

Yes, Aerie did pull down a castle. She doesn't have that kind of power anymore - she was drawing on Aghenu's - but she still packs quite a wallop when she wants to. Kagome is definitely a bit OOC in this chapter, but I have a defense - grief does funny things to people. In Kagome's case here, she is not going to give way to her usual crying pursuits until she has her revenge. Maybe this makes her more like Kikyou than usual. If this isn't believable, I am sorry.

Oh, and a further note - 'tama' does not, apparently, mean stone or jewel, but soul, as I have recently discovered. This was a reasonable mistake, since in the mangas it is often referred to as the 'Shikon Jewel.' This is actually 'Jewel Jewel,' so why the translators do it that way is a mystery. (Oh, and by the way, everyonegive a big hand for those tireless people who translate and re-insert sound effects! Such careful,dedicated labor all for the sake of us stupid people who read Japanese graphic books without knowing any Japanese whatsoever!)

Will post again soon, though am growing to hate this story. Until. Go well. Review. (Prettyprettypleasereview!)


	5. Of Perverts and Falling Downstairs

Disclaimer: It is with great regret that I must confess to having stolen these characters and this universe, which belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Aerie belongs to herself - see, Aerie, you don't get to beat me up this chapter! - and Shayanui belongs to Melly-chan, who I would like to take this opportunity to thank for his loan.

De-dedication: That's right, this is no longer dedicated to Tinni-chan. This is because she deemed it not worth reading. I felt silly having dedicated something she found unworthy to her, so it is now de-dedicated. I'll find someone new to dedicate it to by next chappie.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

**medlii:** Thanks. I'd love to hear your guess, since I haven't completely made up my mind yet who it is. (I think I know, I'm just not sure.) Probably it will be a made-up character, unless I go totally crazy over your idea, because working within the limits of an established villain is enough to give me a headache.

'Your mother': Mom, of course you count as a reviewer. Thanks, I'll work on the pronoun thing. I just bet you got tired of her digging out manga and shoving them in your face! Of course I won't pull her out. The story's about her quite as much as it is about Inuyasha or Kagome. Love ya!

'mom and maya doing smiley faces': **"**', ;- o O,O , ) : ) ;)**"** IS _NOT _A REVIEW! DON'T do that again! I know I already mentioned this to your faces, but that was really annoying. That is all I have to say. Evil parent and sibling. Die!

Just kidding.

**biggest anime fan: **Oh, wait. You haven't reviewed yet. (sobs) If the site won't let you review, send it to me in an e-mail. And hey! You know my real name now. Emma Willard needs to work on that. I mean, what if I sent an e-mail to someone I didn't want to know my name? And they tacked it on anyway? Maybe it's incentive for us not to e-mail anyone scary. Did you get mine? Sorry I ended it so quick. Turns out I didn't need to rush because anime club sat around and watched the popcorn machine the club head had procured for movie night pop corn for ten minutes before we started the movie. Yes, we're pathetic.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome asked uncertainly.

There was good reason for this to be a question. One, this person's hair was black. Two, black dog's ears rose from it, so he didn't look like Inuyasha on the new moon, either. Three, he had just bowed and smiled at them, which was not Inuyasha's style. Four, Inuyasha's head was hanging on a tree branch several leagues away. Otherwise, however, he looked exactly like the hanyou they knew.

He frowned slightly. "Inuyasha? No, you have it backward. The name is Shayanui." He smiled again. "So, you know my name now. How are _you_ called?" They stopped to introduce themselves, and he greeted them cheerfully, then moved off with them when they started walking again, appearing to forget that he had been building a fire and presumably planning to stay for a while. "When I first turned around I thought my face was melting or something. You looked like you'd seen a ghost." He remarked. No one really felt like explaining that he was the image of a dead friend of theirs, especially not after what he did shortly afterward. They found out about it when Aerie heard a slap and 'hentai!' from behind her, even though she could see Miroku in front. Everyone turned and found it was Shayanui who had touched Sango this time, and now she was threatening him direly. The houshi ambled over.

"That's my job, Shayanui." He told the youkai, who was flat on his back and staring up at the enraged demon hunter with eyes like saucers. "Though," he added, smirking, "She seems to mind you a lot more than me. Ow!" he shouted, as she slapped him, too, for good measure. "What was that for?"

Aerie grinned. Well, this was a familiar scene! Except for Shayanui's presence and Inuyasha's absence…. She scowled. She still couldn't believe the great, obnoxious puppy dog was dead…she really _had_ liked him better when he was two-dimensional.

"Come on, you lot," she said, hitching her pack up her shoulder. "Long way to go yet." Miroku gave Shayanui a hand up, since Sango was still fuming, and the tachi followed Aerie.

The ground had been rising steadily for some time, and now they were definitely in what might be called mountains. Sango started watching the girls for signs of fatigue. Kagome was definitely panting. Aerie seemed distracted, staring absently at the trail and correcting their course every so often. When she failed to notice the trail turning aside, so wrapped up in her thoughts was she, Sango tactfully relieved her of the duty. Aerie fell back to walk beside Kagome, but ignored the other girl. At first this made no difference to Kagome, who was too busy with the hiking to bother with talking - she really missed her bicycle; she'd totaled it three weeks before - but as they reached the mountains' crest and the slope began to level out, she noticed that Aerie was muttering to herself, sometimes pausing as if she couldn't decide what to say. Her face looked stern and distant in the setting sun.

"What are you doing?" Kagome asked, curious.

Aerie jumped. "Huh?" The forbidding look vanished in honest surprise.

"You were muttering."

Aerie grinned slightly. "Oh, yeah. I was just listing gods. Like this." She drew a deep breath. "VishnuKaliBrahmanShivaLakshmiGaneshaParvathiSaraswatiIndraSuryaAgniVayaVarunaYamaKuberaSomaZeusAthenaHeraHestiaAresErisEosHeliosAphroditeHermesNikePanHephaestosIrisLetoStyxThanatosDemeterHadesPosiedonPersephoneArtemisHecateApolloDionysis…er…Lucifer -"

"Does Lucifer count as a god?" Kagome interrupted, "I thought he was a fallen angel or something."

Aerie shrugged. "If it gets worshipped, I guess it's a god. There are avowed Satanists out there. Although," she said, frowning momentarily, "I guess that would mean I could use the aliens that cult worshipped or the red rubber ball that woman adopted for her Higher Power for Alcoholics Anonymous." Then she shrugged and grinned. "Why not? ThoseAliensThatCult WorshippedTheRedRubberBallThat WomanAdoptedForHerHigherPowerForA.A.Elvis PresleyThorFriggViliAegirOdenLoki-"

"So this is like your way of praying?" Kagome interrupted again.

"Not really. I mean, I guess you could say that. If muttering their names could curry their favor it wouldn't go amiss, but really it just calms me down. Some people do their multiplication tables. I list gods. Do you know any? You're training to be a miko, right? I don't know eastern pantheons at all. Tell me some."

"The Shinto gods are as numberless as fallen leaves in the autumn," Kagome admitted. "But there's Amaterasu, of course, that's the sun goddess, and her son-"

"Excuse me," said Shayanui, catching up to them from where he had been deep in some kind of discussion with Miroku.

"Don't try anything perverted, Shayanui," Aerie warned. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering where we were going, actually," he said.

"Dunno. We're following these tracks. Someone killed a friend of ours and then left a trail that we were obviously meant to follow, and we are. I guess we're going -" she broke off. A tall, smooth stone tower - Aerie's first thought was of Saruman's tower Orthanc, but not as frilly as they made it in the movie - had just come into view in the distance, and _wrongness_ oozed from it in every direction. "There." Aerie finished.

Shayanui's eyes widened. "You're assaulting the _tower?_ The tower from which no one ever returns? I think now is about time to disassociate myself from you." He began to edge away.

"Too late." Said Miroku dismally. "Look."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

Inuyasha was not happy. This could be considered a severe understatement, seeing that he was still blindfolded, still chained, and about to become human. A pair of beings - he couldn't smell what they were at this point - had picked him up and were carrying him somewhere. The chains that his captor had previously mentioned completely cocooned his body, rendering him incapable of motion. Since the foul-tasting gag had not been replaced, about all he could do was talk, so that was what he did. Unceasingly. He borrowed a leaf from Aerie's book and chattered without pause. Except that Inuyasha's grasp of the meaning of the word 'chatter' was loose, and he was doing something between babbling and haranguing. It was not particularly dignified, but it appeared to frustrate whoever was running this circus, because after five minutes of being carried up stairs he or she - Inuyasha was still uncertain which it was - stopped suddenly and said in a cold voice,

"If you do not button your lips instantly, I will torture you horribly when we reach the top of the Tower."

"But you were going to torture him horribly anyway…." one of the carry-beasts said, sounding confused.

"Not unless he's _really_ stubborn, Abe. Now shush. We need to get him to the top of the Tower before the sun has fully set."

"I _am _really stubborn," said Inuyasha. "What's the frickin' idea here? What's this thing about getting me to the top of the damn tower before the end of the damn sunset?"

"You are a fool," said his captor comfortably as they began to move again. "But I don't mind telling you. It won't matter in a little while, anyway. Your little pack is coming scurrying after you, just as I expected, hot for revenge, but they don't matter. I can handle them, and when I have I'll have a great deal of that fascinating gem. You, however, are a most interesting creature, a hanyou."

He growled. "Feh. What of it?"

"Well, you see, the higher-level sort of demons have an ingenious sort of mental shield that drives someone like me up the wall. So hard to get inside just to have a good rummage, never mind taking over. You've got that, too, though your control is shoddy. If I wanted to spend a week at it, I could probably break you. Not like your brother," he or she whistled appreciatively. "I met him a few months ago. Now that's shielding. I doubt even he's aware of half of his own thoughts. But that's not the point. The point is that tonight your natural defenses will be at their lowest, if not gone, and I'll be able to get in. Humans can sometimes be very hard to deal with in their own way, but that requires a lifetime of practice and anger and a good emotional support system. If I _could_ bring down Sesshoumaru's shields he'd be quite helpless. Doesn't let himself get attached to anything. _You_ have a heart like a prune, serious commitment issues, and walls behind your eyes. This won't be hard at all."

Inuyasha felt the aforementioned prunelike organ clench. This wasn't going to be good…. "Plenty of people have said I wouldn't be a problem," he snapped. "None of them were right."

The other yawned. "Please. I grow weary of listening to your bravado. You're terrified. Admit it. Hang him up here." The last was addressed to the two carriers.

"Keh," said the hanyou, as the creatures, whatever they were, hung him up by a spare loop of chain. He felt the chains tighten as they took all his weight.

"And couldn't you please say something more original? Why not 'Gah,' or 'Ugh,' or 'Woof?' 'Keh' is already boring."

Inuyasha let loose a stream of obscenity that I don't care to go into both because my own vocabulary is not extensively colorful and because I want to keep my rating down. "And stop swearing, too. My oath, every eighth word from your mouth is a curse."

"…" said Inuyasha.

"Yes, I think I'll deal with that while I'm in there," said the person decisively. "Alright. Let the ceremony begin."

The blindfold was pulled off and he bit back a yelp as the setting sun met eyes that had spent so long in darkness. Whoever it was that had kidnapped him stood silhouetted in front of him, but all he could tell was that they were humanoid, slightly built, and wearing some kind of robes. They raised their hands and began to chant something that sounded mostly like gibberish to Inuyasha, though he caught an occasional phrase like 'break walls' and 'bring to me.' He stopped paying attention as he felt his claws go, as his ears performed their monthly migration down the sides of his head. He growled deep in his throat, then scowled at the depressingly human sound. He _hated_ being this vulnerable. Especially now, when being human left him particularly vulnerable in a way he could neither avoid nor fight. As the room sank into gloom, the personage stopped chanting and sat down.

"And?" Inuyasha said, feeling no different.

"We wait. And I talk to you. My voice on your ears will enforce the voice of my mind against yours." And they began to talk. Inuyasha tuned them out after a little while, though he did note with interest that his pack thought he was dead, due to some faked-up severed head and trail, and were on their way to avenge him. He hoped Kagome wouldn't get herself hurt before he could get out of this mess.

The pain came without warning. It bit into him, startling him into emitting a faint cry. The other nodded with satisfaction and shut up at last. If he'd known that that would do it he would have whimpered ages ago, but now he didn't really care. He made no more noise, but it felt as though he were being carved to pieces from the inside with a very small, very _dull_ knife.

_Inuyasha._ said a voice. What was it, he wondered irritably. He was busy being in pain. _Yes, pain, pain is good._ It said cheerfully. He ignored it resentfully through the haze of pain. Sure, he'd been stabbed before and everything, he was no stranger to pain, but this was slow and excruciating and he couldn't fight, couldn't even run, couldn't do anything at all. _Don't you agree, Inuyasha?_ Inuyasha? Who was that? Inuyasha wondered momentarily. _He_ was, of course! What was wrong with him? How could he forget his own name? Of course, it must be Mr. Don't-Swear, slipping in to mess with his mind while he was distracted by pain. Damn! He hated tricks like that.

_Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha._ he chanted in his head like a mantra. This was one of the stupider things he had ever had to do. _C'mon, I know my own name! I'm Inuyasha!_

_And who's Inuyasha? _said the voice.

_Me!_ he roared.

_So? Who are you? What makes Inuyasha a person? Who cares about you?_

_Who cares who cares? _Inuyasha snapped.

_Inuyasha doesn't belong anywhere…he has no roots, no family, no home, no life._

_Shut up! This is a stupid trick! Let me go!_

_Inuyasha has no reason to live. He wanted more power, and then he was in love…he was going to become human and give up everything…._

_Shut UP!_

_But then he was tricked and trapped, and the woman died…._

_SHUT UP! How do you know this stuff?_

_And then when he was free he wanted more power again…not too imaginative, is this Inuyasha? And he tried once again for the jewel. Then it was shattered, and he went on a quest for the shards of it, all the time planning to use it to become a full demon once it was whole again…._

_Shut up._

_And found out about the trick, and vowed his vengeance, but he still had to get the power of the Shikon…_

_Shut up…_

_And what now? Does Inuyasha still want to be a full demon? Does he still want to be human? Does he still love the Lady Kikyou? Does he want anything? Does he belong anywhere? Is he anything is he anyone?_

_Shut up…_

_No one. No one at all. Inuyasha is nothing and Inuyasha is…gone._ The voice sounded certain that he was no more. It was almost right.

Inuyasha bit his lip. _I am…I am…I am Inuyasha…._

The voice was amused. _So you refuse to go? I can overcome that, don't you worry. You're not going anywhere._

_I am…I am Inu…Inu…._

_NO ONE!_

_No one…. No…Inuyasha…I'm Inuyasha…. No one…. Inuyasha…. No one…._ He could hear his heart, pounding with…fear? Why would he be afraid…?

_You are no one, and no one cares about you. Not the monk or the little fox. Not the hunter. Certainly not the girl, with how you insult her and run off to the dead miko every time she shows up…._

_Girl…Kagome. Kagome. Kagome! I remember her. I…I'm not sure who I am, but for Kagome…._ Her face floated in his mind and he grabbed onto it, refusing to let her go away.

_You can't keep this up. You don't really care about her. Come to me…._

"What?" said a voice, aloud in his ears. "They're early. I'll handle this. Unchain this lunk and take him to the dungeon, would you? I'll finish him later. A shame," it said, addressing him. "I had hoped to have you in proper shape to send against them when they arrived. Oh, well. Another time."

He shook his throbbing head. "Ghah…" he said, busy trying to remember his name. That was important. Name… He had the feeling it had something to do with dogs…. The chains that held him loosened as footsteps retreated, and he fell to the ground, trying not to throw up. There was a hole in his chest…odd…. Someone grabbed him by each shoulder.

"Is it safe to take off the chains?" asked one of them. "This guy's tough."

"The Chief's been in his head. He's not in any state to give us trouble." Replied someone else with certainty as he was lifted and carried somewhere. They were talking about him, he noted vaguely. "See, he's still got his sword and everything."

Sword…? His hands went to it without having to think and as he gripped the hilt he jumped. Why the hell was he letting himself be dragged around? His eyes flicked open and in one smooth movement he drew the blade and swung it. It hit one of the people carrying him, and they said 'oof.' Then they laughed. "No wonder it wasn't taken away. It's pathetic, and that was a feeble blow if I ever felt one. Here, you." they said to him. "Put your little stick away and come quietly." He looked in bewilderment at the sword in his hand. He had the feeling it was supposed to be a lot bigger. Wait…this was the Tetsusaiga…and he was…he couldn't quite remember. But his sword wouldn't work tonight, he seemed to remember, so he sheathed it. He'd have to do something else. He grabbed both of his keepers by the backs of their necks and _heaved_. They were on a staircase…. All three of them overbalanced and began to tumble down the stairs together, with him, whoever he was, mostly on the top.

_Whose bright idea was it to build a flight of stairs that went on forever?_ He thought after the third minute. The people under him had ceased to groan a while back. He wondered if they were dead.

"Oof." He said, as they fetched up against something. A door. He dragged himself slowly upright. The other two just lay there. He turned them over to check that they were breathing. They were. Good. They were human…odd. He'd expected something else for some reason. And so was he, he realized, looking at his hands. Even odder. Oh well.

He stumbled away from them, through the door, trying to get out. He was almost certain that there was something outside somewhere that he needed to get to. Something. He wished he could remember who he was.

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**

Kukukukukukukuku! Aren't I terrible? I think I'm getting good at this. Well, so I must hope, anyway.

**Inuyasha:** Who are you?

**Trisak:** I'm the sakusha here, remember?

**Inuyasha:** I don't even remember my name, stupid!

**Trisak (aside):** Did I overdo it?

**Inuyasha: **Huh?

**Trisak:** You're even more clueless than usual.

**Inuyasha:** Huh?

**Trisak:** This is dumb. Inuyasha, go back to the tower and keep skulking. And sulking.

**Inuyasha: **Huh?

**Trisak:** Oh, go away.

**Inuyasha: **Huh? (vanishes)

And that concludes our session for today. I think I like him better when he wants to kill me. Review me! Please, I beg it of thee! I waste away here in my medieval tower (yes, medieval towers come complete with computers,) waiting to be reviewed.


	6. Of Wyvverns and Sore Throats

Hi, I'm back! I'm sorry this took so long, but I was waiting to be reviewed by more than one person and so this chapter has been sitting around gestating for a few weeks. Really am sorry, for anyone who's reading this.

**biggest anime fan:** I'm glad you still like it. I really do seem to be getting better at being funny without being stupid. Yay! Loved your chapter, I know I already said so but I don't care. Oh, my mom's been speculating on what country you're in. I'm kind of curious, too. No snow, check. Visit to Saudi Arabia, check. Government shutting off power, check. Hm.

You aren't criticizing me properly; how am I supposed to do you? Start remembering! Yes, mental shield, Sesshy has walls in his head! Yeah, well, curiosity killed the cat…and satisfaction brought it back. :crosses fingers and hopes for resurrection of biggest anime fan: I can't take credit for Shayanui, he's all Mel's. YES! LOVE CLIFFIES!

**medlii: **Thanks for bothering to tell me _twice_. I got it, though stupid me took three reads to get the code. You got my e-mail? Like I said, I like him as he is. You've got to understand, I wrote him for the express purpose of being a _nice_ demon, who didn't go around being _bad_ all the time, because it isn't fair to cast a whole race as bad. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT OF THEM, DO YOU HEAR ME? I MOVE FOR RACIAL TOLERANCE! Besides, where would we be if the Venusians or the Elves decided we were demons? Heh.

Shayanui _is_ cool, and I told his creatress exactly what you said. EXACTLY! She said XD. Then she said Yeah but it was unintentional. Glad you didn't mind the sob-ness. I was a little worried. Yeah, poor Inu. But he'll be OK, you'll see!

**Gem Gamgee:** I'm so glad I made you happy, that's what I write these for. I mean, what use is fanfic but to bring pleasure to the writers and the readers? And there are (thankfully) a lot more of you than of me! Yes, you _ought_ to re-read. I did so last week. Remember how it was supposed to be all 'smooth stone', and then it was covered in frills and balconies and decoration in the movie? Ugh. Anyway. I love your name, and did the first time I noticed it in biggest anime fan's review replies. (SHE DIDN'T RECOGNIZE SAM'S SURNAME! BAD!) Five minutes? Really? Wow. I am so flattered. Truly. Oh, and my thanks for your other reviews!

Yes, sad, sad. Poor doggy. And I can only name half of the Hindu ones from memory, the others I had to check, and two of the Norse ones I didn't know, a friend told me.

ChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnow 

Recap:_ "I guess we're going -" she broke off. A tall, smooth stone tower - Aerie's first thought was of Orthanc, but not as frilly as they made it in the movie - had just come into view in the distance, and wrongness oozed from it in every direction. "There." Aerie finished. Shayanui's eyes widened. _

"_You're assaulting the tower? The tower from which no one ever returns? I think now is about time to disassociate myself from you." He began to edge away._

"_Too late." Said Miroku dismally. "Look."_

Everyone looked. Three bright yellow things with wide wings were swooping toward them.

"Wyvverns," said Aerie. "Look, no legs." The rest of the company ignored that so thoroughly that she wilted slightly inside. So it was useless information. So what? It was just like at school. No one wanted useless information.

The wyvverns breathed a noxious yellow smoke over them just as an assortment of unpleasant creatures, the kind you turn up under a rock only alarmingly large, burst out of the ground. The tachi went into rapid action, Miroku and Aerie falling on the nearest insectoid demons with their staffs to allow Kagome time to nock an arrow. Aerie scowled as she did so. She enjoyed being able to do fancy tricks with a staff, hit a dime on the fly, and bash up granite, but smashing up other people, often as she seemed to get roped into doing it, was never her definition of fun. She pounded the last slug into the ground and looked up, coughing the last of the wyvvern-smoke from her lungs.

The wyvverns were down. Kagome had dropped one, Hiraikotsu lopped of the second's head, and the arrow that caught the third one in the eye was Shayanui's. Wyvverns are not, in general, very dangerous if you know what you're doing. Miroku was battling some kind of climbing vine that had burst from the ground and wrapped around him, and now seemed intent on crushing the life from the monk. Sango caught Hiraikotsu as it returned to her and cut off an encroaching gecko's head with her sword. Reinforcements were pouring out of a concealed door at the base of the tower.

"There, Kagome!" Aerie shouted, clubbing some small demon who resembled Jaken over the head as he prepared to do something, presumably something nasty, to her, and pointing. "That door! Kirara, can you smell out whoever got Inuyasha for her?" Kagome nodded and made a beeline for the portal, and Aerie turned her full attention back to the fight. She was trying to get to Miroku to help him with the vines, but the opposition seemed to keep flowing in from all sides - one of those inexhaustible supplies of minions that seemed to be way too common in this sort of situation - and her world was reduced to whack, clobber, boot, try to get hold of a decent weapon before they kill you. 'Moving toward Miroku' had gotten filed away under Things To Do Later, along with 'throwing up dinner' and 'cursing whoever got me into all this, as soon as I can figure out who to pin it on.' She scooped up a back-hooked sword from what looked like an anthropomorphized weasel after riding over his guard with her stick, and began whacking the attacking demons into pieces, making much more headway now that she didn't have to rely on crushing them utterly to take them out.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

A while later, Aerie got the airspace to look around. Shayanui had seized some chance to escape. Sango was unconscious. Miroku was absorbed in his battle with the vines, but they hadn't gotten the better of him yet. He appeared to have burned some of them away. Kagome had followed Kirara, and presumably they had gotten inside now. Nothing to lose. No one to see. She let her staff fall. It was in splinters anyway The monster who had dropped Sango reared over her, preparing to make a meal of her.

"Hey! Ugly!" Aerie shouted. Purple fire gathered around her hands and some of it licked out, whipping the creature across the back. It turned, licking its lips. Here was new prey. It could come back for the fallen one later. It took a step toward Aerie, and she let loose the power she had been gathering. The creature vanished without even a chance to cry out in pain. Aerie smiled grimly, as more of the tower's garrisons appeared to handle her. Having power that you hadn't used in weeks was like having an itch somewhere in the middle of your head. At least she could deal with that.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

Kagome followed Kirara up the stairs. The fire-cat seemed quite sure that Inuyasha's killer was not on the first story, and had headed for the stairs instantly, so Kagome had only gotten an impression of a large round room, forty meters across, that seemed to be quite empty. She wrenched open the door at the top of the stairs and paused, startled, as Kirara slipped through. She knew there wasn't room for all those hallways in here, or at least not room for them to lead anywhere. They branched out in a hundred directions, scores of doorways ringing the walls of the room she was in. She looked down to see Kirara's tails vanishing down one and headed after the fire cat. When she went through the door, Kirara was already out of sight. Kagome broke into a run. Maybe she could catch up with her.

At the first branch-off of the hallway, she randomly picked right, hoping that was the way Kirara had gone. The next time she picked left. Kagome raced along empty corridors, trusting to fate to guide her to her enemy. She had an arrow nocked, and was heartily regretting her lack of a close-quarters weapon. She would dearly love to slice whoever had killed her Inuyasha into about ten thousand pieces. She raced around a corner and ran full throttle into someone, bowling them over. She blinked rapidly, disentangling herself from them. Seeing long black hair framing a familiar face, she thought of Shayanui for a confused moment, then noticed the lack of pointy dog's ears.

"In…nuyasha?"

"Eh?" he said, eyes slightly unfocused. "Kagome?"

"Inuyasha?" she repeated, breathless. Then she shook her head, setting her jaw. "You can't be Inuyasha." He rubbed his forehead.

"I think I'm me," he said uncertainly. "But right now I'm not too sure."

"No, you're not Inuyasha," she said decidedly. "Inuyasha's dead."

"What are you talking about?" snapped Inuyasha, sounding completely himself. "Of course I'm not dead."

"You're just another double, or something. I'm not going to be tricked. I'm going to get my revenge."

"Revenge?" asked Inuyasha blankly. "For what?"

"For killing my Inuyasha! The owner of this tower killed him. So I'm going to kill them." Inuyasha blinked, at a loss for words.

"But, er, Kagome, I'M NOT DEAD!" he said.

"We've been through this. You aren't Inuyasha."

"I am, wench!"

"Prove it!"

"How?"

"Sit!" He plummeted to the ground.

"Ow," he commented.

"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome said. He pushed himself up slowly, giving her a quizzical look.

"Inuyasha? Who's that?"

"A minute ago you were saying it was you!"

"Of course I wasn't. Never heard of anyone by that name."

"But you were!"

"I wasn't!"

"Well, then, who are you?" she demanded. He paused. His mouth worked.

"I…don't really know," he admitted finally. "Who are you?"

"You don't know me?"

"Should I?" He asked, climbing to his feet.

"You were calling me by my name two minutes ago!" she protested. This was beyond strange. She wasn't even sure

that this guy _wasn't _her hanyou anymore.

"I never!"

"You were! I'm Kagome, remember? Ka-go-me?"

He swayed. "Ka-Kagome?" He shook his head, like a dog someone's tied a hat on, scrunching his eyes up. "What the hell?" he said, looking up. "Kagome, what's going on here?"

"That's my line!" she exclaimed. He nodded distractedly.

"Whatever." He shook his head again, swaying on his feet. "Er, sorry, who are you?" he asked abstractedly.

"Inuyasha!" she cried. "Snap out of it!"

"You're Inuyasha? I thought you were saying I was Inuyasha."

"No, you were!" Kagome said, quite beside herself. She slapped his cheek the way Sango was always doing with Miroku, hoping to bring him out of it. He caught her hand, looking at her reproachfully.

"What was that for?" he demanded. "I really don't think I like you. You're not making much sense, whatever your name is."

"It's Kagome!" she shouted. She would have almost preferred to be mistaken for Kikyou. He swayed again.

"It's…all fuzzy…." He said uncertainly. "Wait…what's my name? You're Kagome…Kagome…and I'm…Inuyasha? Yeah, that's me." He whimpered suddenly, falling to his knees, his fingers clenched in the thick dark hair near his scalp. "Ah! Get out of my head."

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said uncertainly. He looked up.

"Talk to me," he said.

"What?"

"Hurry!"

"About what?"

"I don't care! Talk! Tell me about stuff we've done, tell me about some stupid book you read, tell me how I ought to be nicer to that mangy wolf, just talk."

"O-okay." She said, giving him a hand up. He leaned on her once he was on his feet, as if uncertain whether he could keep his balance. She felt him shudder, as if repressing the urge to shake the knowledge of his identity out of his head, as they moved toward the exit.

"Talk!" he commanded hoarsely. Kagome, not sure what he expected, launched randomly into a rendition of Beauty and the Beast, following it with Peach Boy - Inuyasha found the idea of a little boy, a bird, a cat, and a dog beating an island full of demons most amusing. She followed that, presumably inspired by the Peach, to talk about their encounter with the Peach Man. She painted it in glowing terms, earning another chuckle from Inuyasha.

"Gods, Kagome, I'm not a hero," he remarked.

"If you say so," she shrugged. "I thought that whole thing was pretty heroic."

He blushed. He really wasn't himself tonight. "And then the next morning you came down, presumed me dead, and started to talk about what an idiot I was," he added, mustering a little of his normal brusqueness.

"I was mad at you for getting yourself killed," she replied. "Funny how that didn't even occur to me this time."

"He put a spell on that stupid fake head," Inuyasha explained, "To make you not wonder how I got myself killed so quick. You do know I'm not that pathetic, right?" Kagome sensed that even with him in this state giving the wrong answer could be hazardous, but she was spared bothering about that by Inuyasha himself, as he stopped, his fingers digging into her shoulder as he fought to maintain his hold on being Inuyasha. "Just until the morning," she heard him murmur. "If I can just hang on."

This was going to be a long night.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

Aerie looked around. She was surrounded by pieces of blasted demon, and they seemed to have stopped coming. Finally. Damn, she hated killing things, even giant bugs. Miroku was still dealing with the vines, but he was definitely gaining the upper hand. He didn't need her help. She went to Sango, checked that she'd be fine, and looked around for Shippou. He was gnawing on the vine twisted around the houshi's right hand. Determined lad. That was everyone. Okay. Now she was free to give Kagome backup. She sighed, jogging toward the door. _Remember when life was normal, and I worried about normal things like doing my homework and keeping the cats from eating my clothes and the way Mom always burns the soup?_ She thought. It was depressing how much of a warrior sixteen months questing had made her. And now Trisak wasn't even there. There was just the tachi, missing its inu, and she had to keep secrets from them. She wanted to go home. She shook her head. In good time. She had no control over it, anyway. Whining wouldn't help anything.

Only three hours past sunset. Day was a long way away. She hated it when it was this dark. It wasn't the darkness she was afraid of; it was just being vulnerable, in the moonless night. Shut up, she told the mumbly little piece of her mind that insisted on this low-key babbling. And that dumb hanyou wasn't even there to annoy by doing it out loud. She examined the door, which either Kagome or Kirara seemed to have blown completely off its hinges. Jeez. She really hoped all this wouldn't permanently damage Kagome. She might not be the brightest, but she was so nice and she sure had guts. Who was Aerie kidding? There was no _chance_ this wasn't going to permanently damage the girl. Shaking her head, Aerie entered the tower, only to be brought up short by the sound of a hoarse voice reciting a nursery rhyme.

"Kagome?" she said, as the other, supporting the hanyou, appeared down the winding stairs that began directly across the room. "Is that -"

"It's Inuyasha," Kagome replied, voice rasping and soft. "But I have to keep talking to him or he doesn't remember."

"I see," said Aerie regarding the hanyou through narrowed eyes, "Yes, it is him, isn't it. He's cute when he's human. Why do bad things always happen to you guys on the new moon?"

Inuyasha, who was looking ready to faint, stirred. "Will you shut up?" he said. "Who are you anyway?"

"No. Where's Kirara?" Kagome's hand - the one not wrapped around Inuyasha - flew to her mouth.

"I forgot her! She's up there somewhere. And this is Aerie, Inuyasha. You don't remember her?"

"I'm having enough trouble remembering _me_ right now." He snarled.

"Keep your ears on," Aerie said, "You never liked me anyway. I'm not all that hurt you don't remember me. I'll go look for Kirara and whoever engineered this absurd masquerade."

"I want to come."

"You still want your revenge?"

Kagome shook her head. "He isn't dead," she replied. "But I still want to be the one to find them."

"Inuyasha needs you. I could talk myself blue in the face and I doubt it would help him one jot. Would it?"

"No." said Inuyasha.

"See? Kagome, you get dog-breath away from here. He's in no condition to deal with whoever it is when they finally decide what to do next."

"And you are?"

"You better believe it. Go on. I expect Shippou's got those vines off Miroku by now. I don't know if Sango's woken up. He may have to carry her." Her lips twitched. "Hopefully, he will be an honorable houshi." Kagome, distressed by the news of Sango's condition, left immediately, Inuyasha saying,

"Am I supposed to know those people she was talking about?" Aerie shook her head and began to take the stairs two or three at a time. Hopefully, Inuyasha's memory would improve. She reached the first door and opened it cautiously, alert for a trap. When nothing was there she frowned. This was too easy…and why were there corridors going off in every direction when she knew she was in a tower with a radius of only about sixty feet? Kirara, and the source of that wrongness, could be anywhere in this maze. _No. Up,_ she thought. It was beating down on her head. She went to the stairs that started once again across the room. This had better not take forever. If this tower was infinitely tall, too, she was going to pull it down or something. She was not in the mood.

When she had reached the point where her calves were starting to ache, she was glowering at the steps as she climbed them. She had always hated stairs. She shifted her grip on her purloined sword and pulled up her reserves of power. She wasn't itching to use it any more, but she hadn't been stupid enough to wear herself out on the small fry. Now if that offense against nature up there would stay put long enough for her to get to it…. She wondered what sort of being it was. She opened her fifth door and looked around for the sixth set of stairs. She saw them – and someone was coming down. She took a deep breath and readied herself for battle. The person's face came into view.

"You!" They said in the same instant.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

Haha! I had to leave a cliffie. It's a habit, and it's fun, and hopefully someday it will entice someone back to read the next chapter.

Aerie: I have a complaint!

Trisak: What is it, Aerie?

Aerie: Well, other than that you've been ignoring me for three years only to suddenly start speaking to me again, and that I haven't actually threatened you with a chainsaw, just a hammer, I don't whine that much!

Trisak: You haven't been whining.

Aerie: I haven't? (Looks over transcript.) Oh. Well, you're still butchering me.

Trisak: Butchering _you_? Kagome recently took an oath of vengeance, Inuyasha's been apologizing and being polite and doesn't remember who he is, _he's_ been _completely _redesigned, and you accuse me of butchering _your_ character? Shut up!

Aerie: _He_ doesn't count.

Trisak: Go sulk somewhere else. I have an Author's Note to write here.

Sango: I have a complaint, too.

Trisak: I'll take you next chapter. Now go away, everybody, unless you have something useful to contribute.

Sorry about that, they really don't like me as Sakusha. You'd think I was the autocratic ruler of a pirated universe the way they carry on…. :grins evilly: I love it when people can't remember their own names!

TRISAK SMELLS FUNNY!

Be quiet, Shippou. Stay off the keyboard. Anyway, how was the chapter? Tell me, please! Specifically, tell me how the battle scene was. I tried to do it from All-Seeing Narrator Perspective, but any battle gets really boring that way, and it's hard to keep track of all the characters, so I reverted to my usual method of choosing a character-perspective and telling the battle in a context that gave it significance. REVIEW! Button's right about there!


	7. Of Water Bottles and Peter Pan

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine. Inuyasha is not my sister's or my best friend's. I have no chance of inheriting the rights to either the character or the world from some ancient relative. Sigh. If this fails to convince you, I'll bring Sesshoumaru in to write these things for me and prove it. Er, that is….

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my dear brother Orion, six years old, who will probably never read it. Thanks to him for his single contribution to the world of fanfic, which was to demand that I, at some point, have Inuyasha chase a cat demon up a tree. Do you think it's smart to read the Inuyasha mangas to a six-year-old? You end up getting hit with a lot of sticks named Tetsusaiga.

**biggest anime fan:** I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHERE LEBANON IS! Besides a small town in my immediate vicinity where you can buy these really good buns, I mean. Heh. Do you live near Beirut? (Did that bomb give you troubles? O.O)Yes, I have kicked-off-the-computer and internet-down problems, too. (Why do you think this chapter took so long?) Drooling and laughter! What author could ask for anything more? But with Inuyasha acting so weird, I'm not sure _I_ would be drooling…although they are sweet. I cannot understand Tinni-chan's motives in hating Kagome. Just because she's denser that a block of lead sometimes.

Yeah, exactly, about the battle scene. She just had to be careful not to get a spear in the gut or it wouldn't matter whether it was an imp or a taiyoukai who did it, she'd still be in major trouble. Am I evil? (crawls under table to consider) Ah, well, it is the price we all must pay. By the way, if Lebanon is made of mountains and you have snow only in the mountains, this means…? Just funning. I live in mountains, too.

**medlii:** I get an awesome, an exciting, a cute, a 'can't wait' and a good all in one review! (does jig) I'm so happy! Thanks for telling me the beginning of the battle scene was a little slow. I had wondered. Purple fire _is_ fun. Used to be laced with gold before she got rid of Aghenu. And of course he'll be back! I love him! Platonically speaking.

Trisaksmom: You give such good criticism, mother! Shorter sentences, check. AUGH! You're right, about Trisak. I didn't mean to cheat, honest! It was supposed to be Aerie's thoughts, I just got in a hurry. Inverted onion tower is scary? Cooooool. Have I improved with the pronouns?

Biggestanimefan'ssis: You actually reviewed chapter 1, but I'm hoping you read the rest and are reading this. I'm so glad you think it's funny, that being the reason for its existence. Your sister wouldn't _really_ kill you for being honest, right? I _want_ criticism! It's confusing, you say? I guess I could have had a longer transition in the first chapter, between her arriving and her wanting to leave. I just didn't want to slow it down. She doesn't fight him out of _nowhere_, really, does she? (wrings hands) I thought that scene was plausible, too. Her wanting to prove she wouldn't be a deadweight…. Oh well. Go on, tell me what's wrong in the now, so I can fix it as I go.

**TessaCilory:** I _like_ cliffies. And they make people like you say Oh my god a lot and demand new chapters. I'm afraid 'it' is no one you know…that's all right, isn't it? Peace be on your house.

**NefCanuck:** Reformatted…hee. I don't think I ever put it like that. As for who it was, just read this chapter and you'll get a semi-idea! (The real explanation doesn't come until chapter eight. I am so evil.)

Wow. That's nearly a page of non-story. Let's move on.

"You!" she said, and realized that he had said the same thing in the same breath.

"What are you doing in the back of beyond, my lady?" he asked with a slight sneer, recovering his equilibrium. "I had thought you'd be seeing to your own domains."

"I haven't any domains, moron." Aerie snapped. Dammit, she'd thought he was dead. Hoped it, anyway. _Trisak said he vanished right after I did,_ she thought. _I guess he was running away. But what is he doing here?_ She wasn't even sure how she had recognized him. Last she'd seen him; he'd been a shadowy form rearing over the battlefield, doing his utmost to look intimidating. Now he stood there, garbed in dark green robes that covered a slim form, his face narrow and sarcastic and framed by a cascade of fiery hair. He raised an elegant orange eyebrow.

"What do you call all those lands you rule then, milady?" Only he could turn a milady into an insult.

"I'm not her, can't you get that!" she snapped. "You're the one who laid the binding in the first place; you should know I was never just Aghenu in human form!"

"Don't play innocent, lady queen. Frankly, I'm disappointed. You always set such store by _duty_ in the old days."

"Shut up! I'm not _her!_" Eight months' constantly being mistaken for the faery queen, of not being sure how much of herself really was _her_, and not just Aghenu asserting herself, especially as her new friends had remarked constantly on this way or that that she reminded them of their lost ruler, were behind the fury in her retort. She had thought she was finally past that! Her hands balled into fists. She could wish for a nice pair of claws or the ability to growl right about now. Anything to be more intimidating that a fourteen year old girl in a stained black T-shirt and jeans. He chuckled.

"Oh, you want to fight me now? Very well. But first, satisfy my curiosity. What _are_ you doing here in this backwater world, in my tower, since you plainly weren't expecting to see me?"

"You kidnapped one of my friends."

"Who - oh, the hanyou. You know him? My. It really is a small cosmos, isn't it?"

"And what are you doing here? Licking your wounds, I imagine." He lowered his eyelids in a bored way.

"I am recovering my strength after that minor setback, yes." She snorted.

"Minor setback? They razed your whole nasty little city and got rid of your army. You're going to have to start all over on the world-conquering thing after eight thousand years invested in that one. And you call this a minor setback?" He nodded.

"Exactly. Everything is minor if you have enough _time, _don't you agree, milady?"

"Feh," said Aerie, and then paused. She sounded like Inuyasha. Whatever. "I suppose you're still stealing lives every few years to keep yourself strong. You're pathetic."

"One sees one's own faults reflected in others, your majesty. Do the honors?"

"Pitiful," she muttered, for good measure. "What honors? If you want some formal challenge, forget it. Take this!" Even as she said it, she couldn't believe she'd actually used that cliched line. She was really glad she didn't actually have an audience, or they'd all be groaning at her. He stood there without moving as her bolt of power cracked toward him and enveloped him, smiling.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Will it do for a challenge?" she snapped, although she was a little worried. He should have at least _twitched_. "Consider that the gauntlet across the cheek." He bowed ironically.

"Begin."

Kagome dragged along her burden. She had quite lost her voice. Inuyasha had forgotten his name again shortly after leaving the tower. It was scary, that he couldn't remember it. What would you do without your name? But he remembered her. She remembered what he'd said, back right after Tetsusaiga had been broken, how he'd never forget her. She was glad he'd kept his word.

"Lady Kagome!" said Miroku from where he was kneeling beside Sango, as the schoolgirl cum miko approached with her comrade. "Is that-" She nodded. Miroku stood up, face wreathed in a smile. "Inuyasha! You live, then!" Inuyasha blinked at the monk.

"I'm sorry," he said, "Do I know you?" Miroku turned to Kagome in alarm.

"Are you sure that is Inuyasha? He does not sound quite himself." Kagome opened her mouth to talk, but only a rasping sound came out. Miroku frowned. "What's wrong with her?" he demanded of the hanyou. "Inuyasha, or whoever you are."

"I don't know about Inuyasha, but I think that the lady is thirsty," Inuyasha replied.

"That does it. You are not Inuyasha," said Miroku, fumbling out his canteen. "How many doubles of a dead man can you meet in a day?" he muttered, approaching them and offering Kagome the water. She took it with a smile, drank, then said, still hoarsely, to the hanyou,

"Inuyasha, hang on, you can do it. You've forgotten your name again but you'll be fine, come on, you're Inuyasha and that's Miroku and I'm Kagome, you remember me, right?"

"Kagome…?" his fists clenched. "Kami I hate this! Inuyasha. That's me. But him…hang on…." He squinted at Miroku. "You're that monk, right? The perverted one with the hole in his hand? I think I remember you. Kinda." Miroku blinked at Inuyasha for a moment, then looked back at Kagome.

"Just what has happened, lady Kagome?" Kagome took another drink and then explained raspily as much as she understood.

"Inuyasha thinks he'll be fine as soon as the sun comes up. Something about natural mental shields." She finished. "All I can say is I'm going to have to start reciting the times tables or something if I want to hold onto him until dawn."

"I don't usually look like this, do I?" asked Inuyasha. They looked at him, confused by both the non-sequitor and the question itself. "I seem to remember claws," he elaborated bad-temperedly.

"Oh! Yeah, usually you do have claws, and fangs, and silver hair. Just tonight you're human, remember? That's why it'll be okay in the morning. You knew this ten minutes ago." _He keeps forgetting new things,_ she thought. _This is not good._

"Oh." He said. "Forget me trying to remember you, monk," he told Miroku a moment later. "I think I'll worry about me."

"Well, at least he sounds like himself again," sighed Miroku, laying down his staff and going to his knees at Sango's side again. "I'm not sure what was done to her. If she'd just been hit on the head there would be a bump and, knowing Sango, she'd be awake by now. Have you seen Aerie?"

"She's in the tower. Said she could handle whoever it was up there. Inuyasha, do you know who it was?"

"Some loony in robes who didn't think much of humans and talked like he wasn't a demon. 'Humans do this' 'demons are like that.' "

"Odd," remarked Miroku. "And you don't think he was a hanyou, either?"

"Definitely not. He said I was 'a most interesting creature,' I think."

"Isn't anyone worried about Aerie?" Shippou demanded. "She's in there with some guy who controls lots of demons and got inside Inuyasha's hard head and changed things around, and she's all by herself, and she's just human!"

"She's got Kirara," said Kagome.

"Who are you?" said Inuyasha.

"You're right, Shippou, I hope that she will return unharmed," said Miroku. Shippou looked around at the three adults.

"You don't care, do you? I'm going to go help her!" Miroku caught his tail as he turned to go.

"No, Shippou. You stay here."

"Why?"

"Because," said Miroku, looking thoughtfully at the tower, "I have the feeling that somehow, this is Aerie's battle."

This was her battle. This freak had been messing up her life since day three. How _dare_ he stuff a foreign soul that he couldn't seem to kill into her body! How _dare_ he plan to murder her as soon as his enemy was so tightly bonded to her that they would both die! She gathered up as much anger as she could get her hands on and threw it at him, knocking him back against the doorframe. The whole room was scorched by now, marks of bolts that had missed their marks streaking the stone.

"You seem to have lost control, milady," he remarked, straightening. Aerie's fists clenched.

"Shut up!"

"Really, that bolt had enough power in it to fry me, but you aren't focusing it." His tone, eyes half-lidded, was mock friendly, as if she wasn't even enough of a danger to bother treating as an enemy. "You've quite lost reign on your temper along with your power and your wit." _Reign on your temper…._

_Trisak stood behind her where she knelt, a hand on her shoulder. She had just gotten into a dispute with an innkeeper and almost lost it. Almost, nothing. She'd blown up half the inn. _

'_You've got to keep better reign on your temper, Aerie,' he said. 'If you let it rule you, you can't control yourself and you can't be trusted.'_

'_I can't,' she said, whining a little. 'I just can't. Besides, _you_ get angry.'_

'I get angry,' he agreed, chuckling. 'But I usually don't lose control. Anger is a tool. You can use it, if you control it. Righteous fury can do a lot for your strength. Just don't let the anger be the boss, that's all. It just messes you up.' Aerie thought of Lelentaeli, their third companion, who was probably back smoothing over the blown-up bar incident. Lelentaeli never smiled. Fifty years ago, he had killed his dearest friend, by accident. He had been angry then. She raised her hand to squeeze Trisak's on her shoulder.

'I'll remember.' She promised.

"I'll remember." She repeated.

"Eh?" he said. "Are you losing your wits entirely, Lady?"

"Oh, be quiet," she said absently. She bit her lip, concentrating. What was the trick? There had to be a trick. There was always a trick to beating the bad guy. Aghenu might have known. Maybe she had left it behind, with all that other baggage. She squinched her eyes shut, pretty much forgetting that she shared the room with her enemy, and concentrated. It wasn't so easy to get hold of these memories anymore. Without that forceful personality boiling up under her own, holding them. But she preferred it this way. She wondered how many people knew just what a relief it was to be alone in your own head.

"Lady?" he said, staring at her. He smiled slowly. "Rillaimu?" he added, falling into the language of Aghenu's people. He nodded at her total lack of reaction. "While you're busy, then…" he drawled, drawing his hand back. Just as the bolt left his fingers her eyes flew open.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, her left hand moving up automatically to catch the burning missile. It hovered at her fingertips for a moment, then vanished. "So that's it, then." She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. "Right." She said. "Right. Dark and sinister man, prepare to meet thy doom!" She grinned at her butchering of those two quotes from Peter Pan, but didn't expect him to 'get' it.

"Proud and insolent youth," he replied, raising his eyebrows, "Have at thee?" He paused. "What in thirty-six freezing hells is that supposed to mean?"

"Hey! No reading my mind!" And with that, she attacked.

Important Authors' Note: If you haven't read my prior descriptions of Aerie's past, do so. Or you'll be confused, in this chapter and those to come. AND I MADE KILEB UP LONG BEFORE I EVER READ INUYASHA, SO KEEP YOUR MOUTHS OFF ANY SIMILARITIES, OK? He has nothing to do with Naraku. They're totally different. They just got cast from the same basic literary villain mold. Cold, nasty, powerful, likes to make fun of people. Sorry, just can't stand any accusations of copying; stupid in fanfic, I know, but when you bring in an OC they had better be their own character or why bother having them? Right? So, he has nothing whatsoever to do with Naraku. Got it?

**Inuyasha:** Oh, like they're gonna believe you?

**Trisak:** They'd better. OR I WILL SIC THE BENGOSHI YOUKAI AND FLYING ORANGUTANGS ON THEM!

**Inuyasha:** …

**Trisak:** …

**Inuyasha:** …

**Trisak:** Right! Sango, I believe you had a complaint?

**Sango:** Yes! I did! I have spent the last two chapters unconscious! This is insulting to my dignity as a taijiya!

**Trisak:** Ooh, that's gotta hurt. Look, I'll give you a large role in chapters to come. Oh! I have just the idea….

**Sango:** This had better not be anything humiliating, sakusha.

**Trisak:** Don't worry, taijiya…it's not. Might annoy Miroku, though.

**Miroku:** I have a _bad_ feeling about this.

**Trisak's Sister: **STARWARS!

**Trisak:** If you don't get that, I'm sorry for you, you poor Starwars-deprived person.


	8. Of Face Slaps and Philanthropy

Heh. You may notice as you read that I do not actually describe the conclusion of the episode in the tower! This is because a) I want to leave you in suspense, b) I don't like to write battle scenes, c) I have no idea what the 'thing' Aerie 'remembered' is, or d) all of the above. Pick whatever you like.

Disclaimer: I now own a copy of Inuyasha manga no. 19, and had a really strange dream in which I had Sesshoumaru on a chain, but otherwise I own nothing. Oh, except Aerie, because I bought her from her poor, grieving parents who think she's been dead for ten months anyway.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my dear sister, annoying as she is, also my beta reader. Reviews as froggiesrcool, consistently, although she doesn't have a penname yet.

**biggest anime fan:** SHE LIED TO ME? (looms threateningly) Heh. Don't hurt her. Hope the exams went well. I sincerely doubt you know the bun place I'm talking about. Wrong continent, in a little town named Lebanon. (Maya would like me to add that they also have good doughnuts.) All I'll say about Miroku's fate is that it involves me conferencing with Mel to get my facts straight. Hm. How thoroughly do you read disclaimers? Because if you don't read carefully that's not a hint. Regarding Kileb: I like him too! (I'm actually way too fond of most of my bad guys.)

Glad you understood, glad it's still funny. I'm sitting here writing review replies because everything I've tried to write today has been morbid and bloody, so that may set my post date back a bit. Thanks for asking about the dawn; made me realize my timetable was getting a little screwed up. Oh, and this one's longer!

**Gem Gamgee:** _You_ aren't getting hit with them. Thank you for believing me. SO THERE INUYASHA! My sister is happy you liked her line. Sis: Happy happy happy! (She really just said that.) It actually was hers, too. She was sitting next to me when I stole that line and quoted it the way Anikin says it, and she came back with the way Han says it, and then she said STARWARS, and since randomness is the purpose of those author's notes, I put it in. Kihii! So happy you like me! I love you too!

**NefCanuck:** Hah! I didn't resolve it! Take that!

Trisaksmom: Sorry you didn't like it. Making this one longer. Say…will writing the next chapter of this be a good excuse for not doing chores from now on?

**silverfingers:** Glad it's funny and all. Thanks for reading it even though you didn't know Inuyasha! So flattered! I _do_ know it's not original, by the way, though. (Which is what I meant on your story – just teasing.) I GET KUDOS! Yay!

**Imomen:** A crush? No-o…. He just likes her…. That wouldn't be fair if he had a crush on her, him so young and all…. She plays with him, and it's more interesting than Kagome playing. (I.e., he's a little boy, Aerie would do things like mock-fight him and build little villages for the purpose of being flattened, etc. Believe me, Kags is sweet but not much fun from the viewpoint of a small boy.) Plus he's kind of defensive about liking her in the first place, because he knows Kagome and the Inu don't, much.

**medlii:** (You last 'cause I have the most to say) Yeah, I enjoy writing these titles. I like orange hair! You're right, not enough villains are redheads. Yeah, his name was intentionally not mentioned. No, he doesn't look like Naraku, but he acts a little like him (and has a very faintly reminiscent backstory) and I was just keeping people from any misconceptions.

Heh, you caught that, with him remembering the 'loonie in robes' while most everything else was a blank. Actually, I thought about that, but let's just say that Kil' was attacking the memories of things that actually mattered to Inuyasha, and his shot-term memory wasn't affected, shall we?

I actually used a direct quote from Yodah in the first draft of that, but it didn't really fit, so I took it out. Trisak isn't really much like Yodah at all except that he's really old, not human, knows a lot, likes to make fun of people without them knowing…. Well, put like that it sounds like he _is_ like Yodah, but I swear he isn't! Glad they did help; I didn't want to go through them again in the chapter and slow things down, but I didn't think it was really clear…. Go Sango! Here's the chappie.

Kagome sat and stared into the fire, Inuyasha's head in her lap. She was actually kind of wishing he wouldn't get his memory back, because he'd been so sweet all night since she had truly and completely lost her voice. He'd lit the fire, fetched things for her and Miroku while he cooked and she looked after Sango, played with Shippou, and he hadn't sworn once. And then he'd fallen asleep with his head in her lap. Why did he only do that when he was human and incapacitated? Miroku was asleep, too, at a decent distance from Sango, and Shippou had fallen asleep looking toward the tower where Aerie was. He was really worried about her. Kagome was glad he'd fallen asleep before the weird noises and lights and explosions had started to come out of it. She stroked Inuyasha's hair absently.

"Kagome!" called a tired voice. She looked up, squinting into the darkness. She couldn't see a thing. She was starting to hate moonless nights almost as much as Inuyasha did. As he usually did. Wait…she could make out something. A slim black form, practically lurching toward her.

"Aerie?" she said uncertainly, glad to find that her voice was back.

"The same." Aerie agreed, sitting down next to her with a groan. "I thought he never slept on the new moon," she added, gesturing toward Inuyasha.

"He doesn't; he doesn't have his memory right now – hey, stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Trying to distract me from asking what happened! What happened?"

"I found the guy who got Inu."

"And?"

"I didn't kill him. He got away."

"_And?_" Aerie looked at Kagome and her lips twitched.

"And I'll wait until everybody wakes up to go into detail because if I've learned one thing in the past ten months it's that I hate telling stories about stupid positions I've gotten myself into more than once."

"What's been special about the past ten months?"

"Kagome," Aerie said, "You're fishing. Do I ask you questions? Do you ask any of the rest of them questions? I don't want to talk about it." _Not without talking to Trisak first, anyway,_ she thought. "Maybe later on. But we'd better wake everybody up now. I'm not sure how many more cronies he had holed up in there, and I'm drained." Her eyes fell on Kagome's hand, still stroking Inuyasha's hair without noticing. "Or, if you really want to stay here and keep him there, I guess we could do that too." Kagome flushed.

"See, that's not fair! That's why I asked you. You know everything about us, but what do we know about you? Nothing! You could be some kind of demon in disguise, a murderer on the run, or _anything!_ Just tell us!" Aerie looked up and met Kagome's eyes for the first time since she had arrived back.

"You're right," she said. "I'm sorry. I will tell you sometime. As much as you know about anyone else. The outlines. Really, you're the most private pack of people." Kagome nodded.

"I guess we are. Shoot. Then we can go."

"Not now. I'll tell you about Kileb, the guy in the tower, though, since I suspect he's going to hold a grudge about this."

"Alright. Go on."

"Let's wake the others up, then. I mean, you aren't going for sole knowledge of the battle, right? Everyone okay?"

"Sango still hasn't woken up." Aerie raised her eyebrows and went over to the taijiya.

"Start waking people up," she said, putting her hand on Sango's forehead.

"Yes'm." Said Kagome. Aerie grinned.

"I deserved that." She murmured. "Got too used to Trisak and the others doing what I told them. Now, what's the matter here?" She laid her other hand on Sango's diaphragm. "Hm. Bump on the head, and a little poison." She worked on healing the concussion, keeping the purple inside the bone, and ran through Sango's veins, clearing the poison out. She could have gone faster if she hadn't been hiding it, but she'd gotten in the habit.

Sango slapped her. "Hey!" Aerie protested as the demon slayer opened her eyes. "What was that for?" Sango blushed.

"Sorry. I thought you were the monk."

"Why, my dear Sango, I am injured," said the slandered monk, looking over Aerie's shoulder. "How can you think I would take advantage of your unconscious state?" Sango made a face at him.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"I'd say…six hours." Aerie said. "Dawn should be in about three more. Inuyasha'll be changing back."

"Er…he's…dead, Aerie."

"I am not," Inuyasha grumped, apparently having been re-reminded by Kagome again of whom he was.

"He says he's not dead," Aerie told Sango.

"Will people please stop saying that?"

"Did he just say please?" Sango asked.

"He did! He's been really nice tonight, and he played with me, and – Aerie! You're OK!" Shippou jumped onto her, almost knocking her over. She caught her balance and gave him a hug.

"Hey, bucko. You were worried about me?"

"You bet!" Shippou exclaimed. "You went in there to fight all by yourself and I was afraid you'd get killed because you're human and you're really easy to kill."

"Not that easy," she told him, smiling. "Believe me." _And, until recently, not all that human, either. I. Hate. That. Jerk. Why didn't I kill him?_

"Tell me what happened, Aerie! Did you get the guy who stole Inuyasha's mind?" Shippou asked, clambering onto her shoulder.

"Hey!" Inuyasha protested, making a swipe for the kitsune that missed because Aerie leapt backward onto her feet, Shippou tumbling into her arms.

"Please don't do that," she requested tiredly. "I've been either fighting or climbing stairs for the past three and a half hours, and I'm exhausted, and my nerves are shot to hell."

"I'd like to hear about that battle, if you don't mind." Miroku put in. "What manner of being was it, that even Inuyasha was not stubborn enough to stand against?" Aerie sighed and sat down beside Sango, and the tachi followed suit, those who were on their feet. She set Shippou on the ground beside her, where he moved off to sit with Kagome, who didn't jump around at ridiculous angles, even if she was muttering to Inuyasha at regular intervals. Aerie didn't say anything for perhaps three heartbeats, and then she remarked, as if to the universe in general,

"He used to be human."

"Not another Onigumo," Inuyasha groaned. Miroku raised his eyebrows.

"I was thinking, not another Peach Man," he said mildly.

"Not really. Though I guess he's more like the Peach Man than he's like Onigumo. As far as I know he did what he did to himself voluntarily and with only minimal aid."

"You know him?" Kagome asked, startled. Aerie winced.

"I know _of_ him. A good deal. And we have met before. He's kind of…my Naraku, you could say. My nemesis. Except that isn't right, Nemesis was the goddess of vengeance, and I haven't done anything to him, or you to Naraku for that matter. So we're _their_ nemeses."

"Aerie," cut in Kagome, "I'm sure what you're saying would make perfect sense in English, but in Japanese it's gibberish." ((A/N: Does anyone know the Japanese for nemesis, arch-foe, etc.? It'd be nice if you could tell me.))

"And you're babbling." Added Inuyasha, ever tactful. Aerie blushed.

"Yeah. I'm tired. And I don't like being…looked at. Makes me feel like prey." She cleared her throat. "Maybe I should start at the beginning. His name is Kileb."

"Harmless-sounding name," Sango remarked. "What does it mean?"

"I have no idea. It's the name his mother gave him. He's used a number of others over the years, but that one keeps coming back to haunt him. That's because of the Faer." She paused. "I'm telling this badly," she said. "No more questions unless it's really important. Okay? It keeps sending me off on tangents just when I'm getting into my stride."

"What's a tangent?" Shippou asked Kagome.

"It's to do with geometry," the girl answered, "I'm not sure why she just used it. But hush." Aerie's super-dooper magic mastery of Japanese was not perfect. She wrinkled her nose and began.

"Alright. I'm good at stories; I'll treat this like one. Once upon a time there was a queen. She ruled a people who never died, and who knew no fear. One day, when walking in the places humans lived, she found a child. He was half-dead with starvation though he had no more than a hand's worth of years, and he told her his name was Kileb. He had been thrown from his home, he said, because he saw things in the fire. She took him home. At first all was well. He was a child, and a clever, sweet-natured one, and among the ageless Faer he quickly became everyone's darling. He had everything a boy could desire. Adventures, stories, tutoring and training in every discipline. But, as children do, he grew up. It was not enough anymore to hunt and play and make music and hear stories long into the night. He wanted to tell stories, too, but he had no adventures or strange sights to tell of. He had only his few years in the woods and the marble walls of the land where he had grown up, and he was lonely. He had not been studying long enough at anything to understand the discussions the others held about things that really interested them, he had not known any of them long enough to be able to communicate many minutes' speech in a glance – and he would need many more centuries before he _could_. Some instinct within him, too, was telling him to hurry, that he had to get out and do things _now_, because he would not have long, but he did not understand that that was what it was saying. All he knew was that he was no longer happy.

"After a time he asked the queen to take him out among the human kind when she walked, and she consented, and was glad, for she had known that he was unhappy, and had guessed more nearly at the reason than he. They walked out of her forests, out of her world, and to a place where humans lived. At first they were walking down a road, a muddy, dirty road, and he looked at the people they were walking beside and did not understand why their faces were so different from the ones he had grown up knowing – all so afraid, so tight. And he did not know why they looked at him and the queen, and why their eyes turned hard and unhappy. He did not recognize the jealousy in them, for though he had thrown his tantrums as a child, he had never felt this deep resentment, and he had never seen this look from someone else. Then they were in a town, and it was loud, and crowded, and foul smelling, and he looked about with wide eyes. As they walked he saw the marks of famine, of illness, of war, starving children and plague-ridden families and old soldiers with war-wounds of every kind. And he asked the lady 'What is wrong with them?' and she said 'They are hungry. They are sick. They are wounded.' And Kileb replied, 'I know those words only from stories. Is this what they are?' And she nodded.

"All that day they went through the town, along many roads and up many alleys, into dark, foul-smelling dwellings and to those people with no dwellings at all, bearing bread, and smiles – a thin, cracked smile on his part, but a smile – and the queen's healing hands. Sometimes they were cursed for their charity, by folk too proud to accept it, sometimes they were thanked, and sometimes the people fled before them without ever knowing why they were there. As the sun was going down, Kileb could stand it no more and he turned to the queen and asked 'Why are we doing this, milady? Why are we here?' The queen sighed and leaned against the wall of one of the human buildings. 'I come here because I have to remind myself who they are,' she replied. 'Because I want to heal the life of a child and hold her on my hip and have her smile at me, to make a weary mother laugh, to see a father embittered by his lot take joy in his family again, to help an old widow in her loneliness a little. Because they are _people_, and I cannot, must not let myself forget it, far away in my ivory tower.' Kileb did not understand, and she saw it. She sighed. 'I hope I did the right thing,' she said, 'When I brought you home.' He sighed, too. 'These people…' he said. 'I'm like them.' It was almost a question. 'Yes,' she replied, 'and no. You are enormously lucky; you have more than any of them. You don't need to fear anything as long as you have us. And you will have us, as long as you live.'

"And at the next house, there was death. The queen helped lift the body of the plague victim and wrap it in its shroud, and then left the family to mourn. 'What was that?' Kileb asked her. 'That was Death.' Was what she told him. 'Every being must face it someday. Humans die every day, whatever anyone might do.' 'All of them?' he asked. 'All of them die?' 'Yes.' 'And me?' He had figured it out quickly, more quickly than she would have thought. She realized she had neglected ever to talk to him about mortality. 'You too,' she told him as gently as she could. Luckily he did not seem inclined to running away or shouting or crying. He was just quiet for a long time. Then he said, 'Can we go home now?' 'Of course, kitling,' she replied. 'Of course.'

"After that he was very quiet. He began to spend time in the Great Library, which held books from every source you can imagine, reading. Devouring the writing, which was mostly human. Beings who weather millennia often tend not to bother with memoirs. If someone wants to know something they know, they can always ask. So the collection was made up of works by humans, demons, a few other transient species – that is what they call those of us who die – and Kileb was doing his research this way. He learned about death from the writings of those long dead, about mortality and sorrow. Also he learned about the Faer themselves, as the humans had seen them. And this was less good, because he learned much that was not true, in accounts that confused them with demons and with elves and ghosts and a hundred other kinds.

"Now, among humans, when a person spends several months in withdrawal from the world, people start worrying. But this was a society where a decade was considered legitimate time for contemplation, so no one thought to bother him. And then, perhaps a year after his trip away, Kileb discovered the black grimoire section of the library. It was full of directions for some of the foulest practices ever imagined, of the scribblings of the mad, the power-hungry, the paranoid clutchers at immortality and omnipotence. It was the worst thing he could have found. Because Kileb, in his readings, had discovered jealousy. He had come to resent his understanding of the people who had brought him up, their power, their freedom, and their immortality. His own power had been trained, in an offhand manner, by those who had appointed themselves his tutors in his boyhood, and he knew a few childish charms and knew he could probably do more. Now he understood what Oithorin had meant, when he had said regretfully 'Not time enough to teach him anything worthwhile, anyway.' And he resented it bitterly. He began to study.

"It was ten years later when he felt he had learned enough to satisfy him temporarily. He left the library. It had been over a decade since he had last done so. Everyone was pleased to see him. They greeted him and so on, but were troubled. He did not smile back at them; he wore a distant look. One day the queen came upon him in the woods, having just experimented with his craft by killing all the life in a glade. She was appalled. Strong words were used. He cursed her. He was insanely jealous by now, and madly afraid of death. He was thirty years old, and had spent too many of them bending over dusty grimoires in the dimness and he already felt old before his time. The next time she came upon him, he actually attacked her. His strength was not great, but she would never have expected that viciousness from her dear kitling, despite what she could see had happened to him. His spell burnt her. When he saw her body lying on the ground he was sorry, but instead of realizing that he was following the wrong path he grew afraid, and fled.

"I know less of what happened after that. I know that he came to one of the places where humans lived, that he settled among them for a while, that he took the ways of stealing life from others that he had learned in his studying and used them. He moved through centuries that way, and he gathered ever more power, more ruthlessness, and worked to make himself less…human. He did not want to need anyone. He did not want to care. His image of humanity would always be of those hours spent slaving away, trying to ameliorate the woe of the poor. A few thousand years later, he took over his first kingdom. By then he forsaken his body entirely, leaving it entombed in an eternal coma somewhere hidden, done away with his soul, and frozen the heart that loved in ice. I don't know what you would call him now. He took over worlds, bending millions to serve him, and he took war to the queen and her people. They had to learn to fight, which sits well with few of them. Nevertheless, they learned it well. One of them trained me. A few months back, there was something of a showdown. The Faer helped with a rebellion that had been festering in his conquered lands for centuries, and he was thrown down and his city leveled. I am told that he vanished in the battle. He is still willing to do anything to live forever. He is cold and ancient and insane and all that…but he is also rather personable, well-spoken, clever, and hard not to like when you meet him. So one must be careful. I had hoped he was dead, but he appears to have come here. And now he is going to have it in for the lot of you, given that Inuyasha escaped him and the rest of us helped him do so." Aerie finished, blinking slightly at her own turn of phrase. No one had ever actually told her this whole story in such detail, but she had gotten pieces of it from Lel' and Trisak, and the conversations…she could remember them as if she'd had them herself. _Residual memories,_ she thought, shaking her head. _But jeez it's creepy._

"Very interesting," said Miroku, his eyes disturbingly keen. "From what you say, he is very dangerous. So why were you able to defeat him without being injured?" Aerie winced. Trust him to come to the point about that.

"He's not very strong right now…but he's already put together an army. Most of it wasn't here yet, and now that he's left it'll probably disintegrate. Demons are not really into teamwork."

"Aerie…." Miroku said gently, obviously informing her that she was not distracting anyone. "Why are you afraid to talk about yourself?" Aerie shrugged. She wasn't entirely sure. Part of it was the sheer annoyance of having to explain it all. Part of it was the fear that they would somehow reject her once the story was all told – it had happened too many times before. These last months wandering aside, she had learned very young that the best way to lose friends was to let them find out too much about you. At least for her. A great deal of it was the thrill of being a mystery, inexplicable…magic. It's hard to get that in the normal way of things, although it was what she had always more or less tried for at school – being so ostentatiously strange that scorn was given the backseat to simple disconcertion. And a large part of her reticence was due to nothing she could understand. She just…didn't want to tell.

"It's nothing bad," she assured him, and the rest of the company. "Just, give me a while. None of you have made the others talk about your past except regarding things with a bearing upon the situation. I have to talk to someone about it first, as well."

"But you will explain yourself?" Miroku asked. Aerie held up her hand, palm outward.

"Scout's honor," she said. The monk understood the bit about honor.

"Good," he said, nodding, "That's all I needed to hear." She nodded back. _He actually is my friend,_ she thought. _He's going to trust me. I don't think I've ever had a human friend before. Not since I was little._

Okay, sorry about the longness and sadness of all that. In my defense, Kileb's story is really depressing! Most stories about people turning into evil power hungry villains are, I guess. But don't forsake me! (Also apologies the lack of Miroku-beating, for anyone who was looking forward to it. I think that'll take another chappie or two.) Sango's going to have her role maximized for a while, to make up for the unconscious period.

**Inuyasha:** I can't believe you made us sit through that whole thing.

**Aerie: **Not _my_ fault. Anyway, it's a good story!

**Inuyasha:** Feh. Maybe if it got told at proper length when I wasn't trying so hard to hold onto my name, and wasn't such a sob story about some guy that screwed me over.

**Trisak:** Language! I'm sorry about your circumstances, but the story's the thing, isn't it? And considering that it was inserted into your story and it _was_ a bit sob-ish, and I didn't want to rely totally on the patience of my dear readers, making it longer would have been really dumb.

**Miroku:** It was not so bad, sakusha-sama.

**Trisak:** Oh, hush, you're just trying to flatter your way out of what I'm going to do to you in a few chapters. It won't work, though. It's such a good plot device, I _can't_ skip it.

**Miroku:** _Groan._ Why me?

**Trisak:**Hey, you got to be all wise and magnanimous this chapter. Now hush.

I'll make sure to have things happen next chapter…say, this is the first one absent cliffie! OK, if you can locate and cite the quote in this chapter, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you.


	9. Of Brain Surgery and Sunrise

3/15/05

Disclaimer: Mithrandir the cat owns me. I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha owns a fire-rat haori and a cool sword. Neither of them owns anything.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to medlii, a wonderful reviewer who also knows Monty Python. Whoot!

**biggest anime fan:** Oh, he's definitely clever! I love it when he goes off into his lecture about the tamas, and everyone's eyes go all swirly…. I like him, except for the perverted bit. Hence my wish to torture him. Have you noticed how fanfic writers always seem to do that? Torture our favorite characters?

It's not actually in the book, because I stopped writing it before Kileb got a personal appearance or even became much of a character. Started writing a sequel-ish thing which included the forerunner to that story…and here was its final incarnation, fruit of being turned over in my mind and perfected for two years.

I was kind of worried, but I didn't actually have nightmares. Glad I didn't offend you! Nah, no shish kebab. It's a bakery, really, although they do carry a few non-baked things. Wow, that's a lot of bowing!

**medlii:** I guess…what happy thing would make somebody evil…? It's something to consider! It _was_ Monty Python! You get the dedication! You're right, those are the best part! Oh, and the animator's fatal heart attack! You want more? (faints with pleasure) Here you go! MUST…HAVE…STARWARS…! I know it was different, and I wasn't even sure I liked it. I'm glad you did.

**Ganheim:** Thanks for that…. I'm GOING to leave it at nemesis. I didn't mean to use it in the story, it was a matter of curiosity. And I don't like in-text author's notes either, in principle. There's one in here to remind people of something they might've forgotten (my beta had.) Hey! You're right! I _don't_ use 'youkai!' I meant to. When did I stop…? Hm. Strange.

It was _supposed_ to remind you of the Buddha's story. I _based_ it off of that. The first draft happened entirely on the road and it was all question-and-answer, but then I decided to make it more my own. I hope this does not offend. I always thought it could have as easily have gone the other way and made Siddhartha bitter.

I…guess with all her fingers out. It was just a moment of flippancy on her part, really. She was obviously never a boy scout. Whew. I should be so careful!

Like I said reviewing _Life of the Silver Tear_ – which I assume is what you wanted me to review, since I've made it as far as _Crossing the Rubicon_ goes as yet – I didn't have a lot of options. And I thought it was part of the narrative. You know…her, telling story…. Anyway. I know it's not that funny. But parts of the beginning are!

Aerie sighed and stood up, effectively ending the little discussion session.

"Well, let's go. I think I caught a whiff of a couple of old 'friends' of mine, who I _really_ don't want to meet in this state, in there." Kagome shot her a look that said, _Your explanation had better be good._ Aerie winced. 'Whiff' had not meant actual smell, just a sort of _feeling_, but she realized that she sounded like she had a demon's nose, identifying people by scent.

"Right," said Sango, standing up. She swayed momentarily. "Give me Hiraikotsu," she barked, daring them to comment. Inuyasha handed it over and Miroku took her arm to steady her. She shook him off. "Not now, houshi." She said. "I _don't_ have the patience for you toda- tonight."

"Inuyasha," Aerie said. He didn't even look at her. She sighed. He'd lost it again. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you. Do I have to call you hey you?"

"Huh?" he said. She rolled her eyes.

"Look, the lady Sango isn't feeling very well. Would you mind letting her lean on you?"

"I appear to have a hole in me, so I'm not feeling my best, but…I guess not." ((A/N: Remember? The way he got kidnapped was he got a spear stuck through him. A harpoon, actually.)) Aerie blinked. She wasn't used to the way he talked when he couldn't remember who he was. He sounded really, really strange. But he was also remarkably courteous.

"Good," was all she said, "Both our invalids together." She beckoned Kagome aside with her. "Look," she said, "Don't call him back until just before the sun rises, okay? He's being cooperative. We're not likely to get that out of him when he's himself. So please?" Kagome looked over the other girl's shoulder at him as he politely offered Sango his arm to lean on and she accepted it more out of shock than anything else.

"I just…I'm afraid that if I leave him like that too long, he won't come back again. And it's silly, but I actually miss his bad manners right now." Aerie turned to follow her gaze.

"You know," she said, "Me too. Weird, really. I guess…because it's familiar."

"_You've_ only known him for a few days." Aerie opened her mouth, then closed it.

"Point taken," she replied. "Anyway, I don't think you'll have to worry. Inuyasha's too tough to get squashed by the fading tail end of a spell. But if it would make you feel better, how about you call him up every half-hour?"

"Okay."

"Okay," said Sango, grabbing Aerie by the collar when they stopped for a rest two hours later. They had two invalids along, after all, and no one was feeling their best. "What. Did you. Do. To him?"

"N-nothing, Sango, I swear! It was Kileb. He was messing around with Inuyasha's head after he kidnapped him! We interrupted it, but he was going to turn the hanyou into a weapon and set him on us. You know, like Kohaku." Sango sighed and let her go, stepping away.

"Who are you?" she said.

"Huh?"

"You know too much. You do things you shouldn't be able to. And you haven't yet given us reason to trust you. Why should we?" Aerie opened and shut her mouth a couple of times. Curse it, knowing so much about these people was supposed to make it easier, not harder! "Who sent you?"

"Uh…James Bond?"

"Who's that?"

"Never mind. He didn't send me. He doesn't even exist." She paused. "Here," she added. Sango herself didn't exist at home. "Nobody sent me. I only want to get home, okay? That's all."

"You have to explain yourself." Sango said. Aerie sighed.

"Why is everyone saying that? First Kagome, then Miroku, now you. I'll tell you when we get back to Kaede's."

"Why not now?"

"Because we're travelling, and I have to consult a friend of mine, and honestly, I like to build up the suspense. Oh, and I'd like Inuyasha to be in his right mind when I explain."

"So he will get better?" Aerie nodded.

"So we assume." _I hope so. I really don't want to have to go poking around in Inuyasha's head trying to fix him. My control sucks; it'd be like doing surgery with a sledgehammer._

"Good." Said Sango. At that moment, Inuyasha walked up.

"Lady Sango, it's time to leave." Sango rolled her eyes and followed him, and Aerie, smirking slightly, came after.

"Leave it to Kileb," she muttered. "He gave him an injection of charming. He was going to turn him into a murderous tool to destroy his own friends, but he still made him charming."

Before long, it was obvious they had a problem. Namely, the 'Inuyasha' that was not exactly Inuyasha was developing a crush on Sango.

"Aerie," said Kagome. "I am not putting up with this, alright? There's half an hour left 'til dawn, and I'm going to talk myself hoarse. I went along with your little plan and I haven't been talking to him, because every time I do he goes 'Sorry, what's your name?' before long, and when I tell him he comes back. _Look_ at him! He's acting like Houjo-kun." She gestured up ahead of them, where Sango and Miroku were both plainly trying to keep from exploding. It was indeed a pathetic sight. Lovesick little puppy being excessively polite and Sango trying not to lose her temper since it wasn't his fault. Aerie sighed.

"You're right. I was wrong. Go on. I'm a moron." Kagome took a step forward and then screamed out,

"INUYASHA! SIT!" He had just kissed Sango's hand. He plowed face-first into the dirt, Sango leaping back just in time and avoiding a predicament like Aerie's.

He pushed himself up slowly.

"What…was that?" he asked, eyes wide.

"I sat you," said Kagome, running up to him.

"You…what?" She actually growled under her breath in frustration.

"Inuyasha, _snap out of it._ I, Kagome Higurashi, sat you! And I'll do it again if you don't start acting like yourself. Remember! I – Kagome. You – Inuyasha." Inuyasha blinked, shook himself, and then froze. He looked slowly at Sango, then back at Kagome, and turned red. He jumped to his feet.

"_How could you let me do that?_" he demanded from behind clenched teeth. Then he turned and fled into the forest. The tachi looked after him.

"He's right, you know," Miroku observed. "He couldn't help what he did while he wasn't himself, but you could have stopped him, and now he's in a most embarrassing position." Kagome shot Aerie a dirty look and ran after Inuyasha. Sango rubbed her forehead and sat down on a convenient rock. Aerie bit her lip and turned away, retracing their path. She felt terrible. She'd really messed everyone up, feeling like she knew best just because she'd beaten up the current bad guy and happened to know him. _Why am I here anyway?_ She wondered, leaning against a tree. _I'm messing around with them and I have no business doing it; I keep thinking and acting like some sort of all-knowing…all-knowing _something or other_, and I shouldn't. These people are all older than me and probably just as smart, and except for Kagome they all have loads more experience. And she has almost as much, anyway. Well, there's Shippou, but I haven't messed him up and hopefully I won't. And sometimes I think he's got more sense than the lot of us put together._

Inuyasha tore through the forest, ignoring the pain in his chest and the slowness of his running. Dammit, he hated this! How could Kagome have let him do that? She must have seen what he was doing, but she'd…been avoiding him? Why would she have been avoiding him? Was she…mad at him? Well, of course she was _now_, but why would she have been mad before? What had he done? He couldn't think of a single thing. _Damn her._ It wasn't his fault! He hadn't done anything wrong, to make her avoid him. And then he'd gone and started…. He shuddered. He did _not_ have feelings for Sango, that was one thing he was sure of. Miroku could have her. He was definitely confused enough. He whimpered. "Kagome…." Would she be mad at him forever? That whole thing had really sucked. It was bad enough the way he started _talking_ whenever he wasn't around Kagome's voice for too long, but _Sango_….

Hang on. Whenever he wasn't around…. He stopped and looked around. He was out in the middle of the forest. Human. With no idea where he was. Nowhere near Kagome. And he was in trouble.

"Oh, great." He muttered.

Miroku wandered off into the trees in one direction, a slap mark on his cheek, and Sango stomped angrily off in the other, muttering something about 'cursed men.' Shippou was left alone, in the middle of a clear space, with a pile of gear. He looked after Sango, then Miroku, then Inuyasha and Kagome, then Aerie, and said in a small voice,

"Uh-oh." Something bad was going to happen. Something bad always happened whenever people all went storming off in different directions. It was practically a rule. And Shippou, sure that whoever he followed would be the wrong one, sat down on Sango's rock to wait for something bad.

It was just beginning to get light in the east when Kagome caught up with Inuyasha. He was sitting on a rock, his head resting on his hands. He looked up as she neared.

"I feel as if I ought to know you," he said.

"You do, Inuyasha," she told him sadly, "I'm Kagome." He bit his lip as he remembered.

"_Oh._" He turned away. He didn't want to be yelled at any more, but he couldn't start running again. He had to stay near her voice. And he couldn't take to the trees in this shape. He looked at the ground, waiting for her to sit him, or scream at him, or go away, or even to cry. He knew he'd messed up. But it hadn't been his fault!

Kagome blinked as he turned away from her. Was he mad? She had gotten pretty fierce back there…and after all, what had happened hadn't been his fault. This wasn't right. She'd left him in whatever corner of hell it was to not know who or even what you were, in the opposite way from when he turned youkai, just because she wanted him to cooperate. Because he was _easier to manipulate_ when he wasn't himself. Like a dog that's been beaten and taught to be fierce, being made harmless by disease weakening him, and his people letting him stay sick because he was easier to have around the house like that.

"I'm sorry Kag-yasha."

The babble of both their apologies at once blended their names and Kagome smiled. He'd apologized to _her_! He never did that. Of course, maybe it was just the alterations Kileb had made….

"Kagyasha. I like that," she said. "But, Inuyasha, you're not apologizing just because of…because of what Kileb did to you, are you?" He scowled. And after he'd gone and apologized and everything!

"I do have manners of my own, you know," he growled.

"I know," said Kagome. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I shouldn't have abused my power like that. Leaving you not knowing who you were." Inuyasha was silent for a moment, as if considering that, and then said softly,

"The sun is rising." Kagome slipped forward to his side, and they both looked east into the face of Sol as it peered over the horizon. Inuyasha caught her hand as he began to return to his usual form and squeezed it. She looked at him and saw pain cross his face as the babble rose again for a moment inside his skull.

You don't care…. If you did you wouldn't have kissed the lady's hand… Silly hanyou…thinks the humans care…thinks he's found a pack of his own… 

_Can't decide which woman…the miko who wants to kill him or the girl that he's given every right to hate him…._

_Idiot…all alone…just come on…_

_No, no, no!_ Inuyasha insisted. _No._ And then the sun was risen and he could feel barriers going up in his head again, ones that he'd never even noticed before, and the hateful whispery voice was shut out. He looked up at Kagome. "It was lying," he said, seeming briefly as disoriented as he had been when she had first found him again. "I do care. And you do, right?" Kagome smiled.

"Of course I do, you silly hanyou. How could you think anything different?"

Miroku wandered through the trees, wishing he could stop making Sango angry. If he could just stop groping her, life would be perfect…except for the gaping chasm in his hand that was going to destroy him if he didn't get rid of Naraku first, of course. Maybe he had two cursed hands, he thought ruefully, rubbing his face where Sango had hit him.

He never saw it coming.

He was felled by a blow to the head from behind, and the person who had hit him kept hitting for a while until he was sure that the monk would not be waking up soon, though not enough to kill him. Then he dragged him through the bushes and out of sight. A moment later, Miroku stepped from the bushes again. Miroku with dead-white hair and yellow eyes, clad in white and yellow robes with a silver staff in one hand. He glanced down at himself.

"This won't do," he muttered, vanishing into the bushes again. After a few minutes he reappeared in purple and black with the gold staff, though his hair and eyes were still the wrong colors. "That's better," he adjudged, and went in search of black hair dye.

So what's up with Miroku? You'll have to wait and see! And poor, wise young Shippou, sitting there waiting for something bad. The fluffiness is alright, right? Personally I think they're wonderful together. Inuyasha's like a bulldog. Doesn't know how to let go. Keeks'll be showing up eventually…Aerie happens to have issues with her, so that should be interesting….

**Inuyasha and Sango:** I am REALLY REALLY ANGRY AT YOU – AGAIN.

**Trisak:** Yeah, yeah, sorry. I just had to do it. And count your blessings. I didn't do dialogue. Inuyasha, you didn't have any sugary, disgusting lines to say. But I could go up there and put them in….

**Inuyasha:** NO! No. I'm…fine, really.

**Trisak:** Thought so.

**Kagome:** At least I got to sit him.

CRASH.

Inuyasha: Blasted wench! What'd you do that for! 

**Kagome:** I thought you couldn't get sat when we were just disembodied voices in a dialogue.

**Inuyasha:** I'm serious about that revolt….

They had better not. The characters never want an interesting plot. They want the happy ending at the beginning, and we can't have that…. Oh, tell me whether you think Kikyou should come in soon or if I should leave that awhile? I will take your opinions under consideration.


	10. Of Soap and Incinerating Pinecones

3/23/05

Ok, my update time is going to be getting longer, I'm afraid, after this. The problem is, the players won't COOPERATE! This story keeps trying to become ANGSTY, and although I _like_ angsty, this story is intended to be amusing! But Aerie keeps acting like a catty know-it-all, Miroku won't say properly wise things, Inuyasha is clueless and OOC by turns, Kagome keeps losing her temper, and the plot keeps throwing up hard things like Kohaku and Lel' attacking together and then a scene I was trying to write that was supposed to be funny came out just DEPRESSING, and it SHOULD have been funny, and I'm a failure:bursts into tears: Oh, and sorry about the dividers last couple of chapters. It won't let me into QuickEdit for some reason, but my own dividers won't upload. Grrrrr.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to biggest anime fan, who has reviewed all my chapters, (except nine and four,) was the only person to review the first one, and has been so wonderfully helpful! I held this chapter up for her, but she seems to be busy with something, so I'm going ahead. (Could have gotten two chapters out this vacation, too, if I hadn't been waiting.)

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou, Miroku, Shayanui, or Sango, nor do I have title to the Inu-verse. Aerie bought herself free, so now I don't own her either. But at least I have a king's ransom in the stories she paid! (Didn't you know, in the Borderlands stories are the preferred currency. And in Pepperland all things are possible!)

**medlii:** Ooh, you wish he'd stayed longer? Might have been fun, but I'd spent kind of too long on that one night already, and he hadto be okay with the dawn because I had absolutely no other ideas. Well, I did, but I wince as much as Aerie at the thought of her poking around in his head, and the others would have brought the plot off track. Actually I think they did have hair dye, but only for rich people and they'd have it made for them and everything. I _know_ they had tooth-blackening stuff. But I meant the hair dye just in terms of _something_ to turn his hair black. You _ought_ to feel special. I'm not one of Keeks' fans either, but my, she should do things for the plot. Didn't see the Star Wars preview. Have no TV. What was it?

**NefCanuck:** SWISS CHEESE:falls over laughing: Sorry, I found that hilarious for some reason. Hmm. Hadn't thought about it quite that way before. Yeah, I guess all of them let it happen. Bad friends! It _should_ be interesting, shouldn't it?

**Gem Gamgee:** Man, wow, you reassured me about so many bits that I wasn't sure about. Yay:hands Gem ice cream: Love ya twice!

**silverfingers:** OK, assuming you ever get to this chapter, a Sakusha is an author and thanks for the compliment. :fears accusations of Mary-Sue-ness: Of course, _certain people_ tell me that all OC's are Mary Sues. Bah.

Trisaksmom: Those are both really good ideas, but the fact is I was worried about both those chapters, and you in particular thinking they were taking too long, and…yeah. I _wish_ I'd done that, but I was kind of hating chapter eight by the time I wrote it. Sigh. OK, one vote definitely for Keeks. Got it.

**biggest** **anime fan:** :empty wind tunnel sound: Is everything all right? I hope so.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Neither of them spoke as Inuyasha carried Kagome back to where they had left the others, but it was a comfortable sort of not-speaking, full of "I'm sorry" and "I care", and both of them were happy with it. When they got back, they found Shippou and Aerie alone, playing what looked like some kind of sticks and stones and pinecones version of tin soldiers. Inuyasha thought he distinctly heard the phrase 'sat him' from Shippou as they approached. Aerie looked so happy to see them arriving together that it made Kagome wonder all over again if the other girl had some secret agenda. Looking at how Aerie got along with Shippou and hearing how sincere her apology sounded, though, she tried to forget it, or at least tune it down to a slight, nagging suspicion, and she pretty much succeeded. Being on the manipulator Naraku's most wanted list, Inuyasha's company, and being the trouble magnet of the millennium had combined to give Kagome a slight case of paranoia, but she had a naturally trusting personality, and didn't like to suspect the worst of anyone. Even someone she wasn't sure she liked.

"Where're the houshi and the taijiya?" Inuyasha demanded, pulling his usual gruff manner together as he set Kagome down. Aerie shrugged from her kneeling position.

"They were here when I left, but not when I got back," she said. "I could hazard a guess what happened, but you'd better ask Shippou."

"Just the usual," he replied, incinerating a swath of Aerie's stickman troops with his foxfire. "He groped her, she slapped him and yelled, they went away in different directions."

"Hey, no fair!" Aerie said. "If you burn mine, I get to burn yours. And don't think I can't…. Yeah, that was about what I thought happened. If they don't get back soon, we'd probably better look for them. What say, Kags? No, Shippou, see, I get to replace mine or I get to burn yours."

"Kags?" repeated Kagome, as Aerie produced a tongue of purple flame and reduced seven stickmen and a pinecone siege engine to cinders, and Shippou cried out in dismay.

"Oh, should I not call you that? I thought it sounded friendly. See, Shippou, are we going to outlaw firethrowing in this war or should I take advantage of my superior aim? You can give me a nickname, if you like, Kagome." Inuyasha could remember his mother doing the exact same thing Aerie was doing when he was small, talking to him while carrying on a conversation with some other adult about another subject entirely. He wondered if it had annoyed the adults as much as it was annoying him. Kagome didn't seem troubled by it, though. Of course, she'd had a little brother.

"I guess it's OK," she said. "Do you think Sango and Miroku are alright?"

"Something bad always happens when everybody goes off in different directions," said Shippou, moving a battalion southeast about eight inches, in perfect position for an ambush. "But they might be alright anyway."

"Maybe me tripping and falling down a hill counts as bad?" Aerie suggested doubtfully.

"No," said Shippou, "I mean something _bad_." He won the war with his ambush and Aerie's remaining troops surrendered.

"Now you've got me nervous, big guy," she told him, standing. "Let's go look for them."

"Look for who?" asked Sango, stepping out of the brush onto the path.

"You, and Miroku." Aerie told her. "Know where he is?"

"He went the other way," the taijiya replied, sounding worried. "He's not back yet?"

"Probably just meditating or something," Aerie said nervously.

"But he knew we would be starting again as soon as, um, as soon as I got Inuyasha to come back," Kagome pointed out. "He wouldn't take too long."

"Unless he ran into a pretty maid," Sango amended with a scowl.

"Oh, I'm hurt, Sango," said Miroku, coming out of the trees opposite where she had, his golden staff jingling. "Don't you trust me?"

"No," she retorted, and turned her back on him. They set off, Miroku trailing at the back. Shippou, instead of keeping him company as usual, sat on Aerie's shoulder while she taught him 'I Spy.' They walked all day without incident, for which everyone was glad, since it was rapidly approaching twenty hours since they had had any sleep, and they had already had one battle. That evening they made camp, and everyone was too tired even to eat. Inuyasha kept guard. The only thing of note that happened that evening was a particularly loud and angry outburst from Sango at being groped. Apparently he had been more obnoxious about it than usual. He ducked her first few blows, instead of letting her get in a good slap and be done with it, and this led to his thorough pummeling. The next morning, after far too little sleep, everyone was awoken and fed ramen, which Inuyasha had cooked. This had provoked some comment, but he had 'Feh'ed and said that if he'd waited for them to cook it, it would have been an extra half an hour sitting around doing nothing. Sango and Aerie knew, of course, that he was worried about Kagome's not eating. She hadn't eaten since he was kidnapped, and Sango had happened to mention it in his hearing. The rest went without saying. After eating, they moved off again.

"We're going back to Kaede's, right?" Aerie asked Kagome, around noon. Shippou was asleep, sort of slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Kagome was walking, had insisted on it since Inuyasha hadn't healed yet.

"Mm. Maybe. Unless Inuyasha is feeling really stubborn. We haven't found a shard yet, except the one we got from Rath-tama, and he's the only one really injured."

"That sounds like him, actually," Aerie admitted. "Do you know where Kaede's village is from here?"

"_Me?_ No."

"Does _he?_" Both girls looked up at the hanyou, striding along at the head of the column with Sango just behind. Kagome giggled.

"I don't think so."

"Me neither. I don't think he even knows where _we_ are, since he was unconscious all the way to that tower." Kagome blinked. "But I'm sure he'll see a landmark soon, or something," Aerie hastened to add, not wanting to upset the other girl. "He's been all over Japan, right?"

"I think so."

"That's right. Private sort of chap, isn't he?" Then they fell silent for a while. Aerie was thinking longingly of bed, or at least of lying down on the ground and sleeping, which was what bed had meant most of the time for nine months now. "Kags," she said after a while, "Why do you wear that?"

"Huh?" Kagome said, pulled back from a daydream. She paused, processing what her ears had heard. "What thing?"

"The skirt. Why not pants, or at least something longer? Miniskirts are bizarre garments at the best of times, I've always thought, but when you're running around the countryside fighting demons?" She shook her head. "Forget about modesty, it's plain not _safe_. I'm surprised no one's assumed you're a prostitute yet. Um, no offense meant," she added.

"…er…." Kagome said. "It's…what I wear."

"And I must assume that you don't care whether your underwear shows and you get thorn scratches and poison ivy and gravel afflicting your bare legs?"

"Um."

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business." Aerie shortened her stride, blushing, and fell in beside Miroku. "Tired?" she asked him, since he was staring at the ground, not his usual habit.

"Yes," he agreed. They walked in silence for a moment, and then Aerie remarked nonchalantly,

"There's a chicken crawling out your ear." His head came up and he stared at her, and she grinned.

"Hah. Made you –" she broke off. "Look at me," she finished with barely a heartbeat's pause. Miroku's eyes were yellow. She would swear they were usually purple. She'd checked the colors of everything about the gang very carefully early on, just to see how accurate the animators had been. "Say, do you mind if I leave Shippou with you?" she asked possibly-not-Miroku. "I want to talk to Kags about girl stuff."

"Not a problem at all," he said, smiling, but not looking at her again. The girl took Shippou off her shoulder and began shaking him gently, saying mentally – because she didn't want P.N.M. to hear, although telepathy gave her a headache –

Shippou, wake up. I'm not sure Miroku is actually Miroku. Keep an eye on him, OK? And don't let him know we suspect anything. 

_I'm on it, General,_ he told her, adapting readily to this form of communication and hopping out of her arms.

"So Kagome and I will talk girl stuff, and you two can talk guy stuff, huh?" she said aloud.

"If you say so," Shippou agreed. "Hey, Miroku, can you tell me a story?" Aerie sped up again to walk beside Kagome.

"Kags?"

"If it's about my clothes –"

"Forget your clothes. You can dress like a Victoria's Secret model or put on a Harlequin costume and paint your face, if you want, and I won't say a word. Kags, have you noticed anything odd about Miroku today? Don't look at him." Kagome thought. Actually, his queue had seemed kind of odd, his whole head really. If she had seen hair like that in her own time, she would have thought the person had used too much hairspray.

"I did notice that his hair was a little weird," she admitted.

"Trust you to notice hair. And his eyes are yellow."

"They are?"

"Why do you _think_ he hasn't been looking at anyone? I mean, it's possible he's the real Miroku, and something's happened to him, but it could also be an impostor. So what do we do?" Kagome was surprised that Aerie was giving her the lead, and it must have showed, because the younger girl shrugged sheepishly. "Last time I tried to decide what should be done it was a disaster. These are your friends; it's your pack. I'm just a – visitor. Not one of you. You're the boss."

"We wait," said Kagome. "We watch, and try to see if it is Miroku, and if it isn't who it is and why they're pretending to be him."

"Yes, boss."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sango's annoyance had worn off midmorning, but she kept up her annoyed stalking. For one thing, it would keep that lech away from her for a while, out of self-preservation, and for another, it left her alone to think. There was something not right about the guy in the black robe. It wasn't just the funny way he had groped her – and it was embarrassing to realize that she was so used to being groped that she could actually notice when it was different – or the way he had ducked, which he never bothered to do, though that was what had tipped her off. It was something just generally _wrong_ about him. He hadn't offered up any of his usual pearls of wisdom or his calming influence all evening or in the morning, and she hadn't felt like forgiving him like she usually did. Perhaps he was sick. Or perhaps it was something more wrong than that.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rather a long way from where the tachi was, a redheaded man walked through a shield and up to a castle. He was slightly tattered, but no one who got a proper look at him would mistake him for a beggar. He knocked on the gate to Naraku's domain.

When nothing happened, he knocked again. Then he shrugged and walked through the door, too.

"Would you take me to your lord, or whoever's in charge of this hunk of stone?" he asked the first person he saw with a smile. The man, used to anyone he was required to cooperate with ordering him about and noting the half-shredded condition of the redhead's garment, decided he didn't need to help him.

"Shove off, stranger," he said, turning to walk away.

"I see," said Kileb. He looked after the impolite fellow as if waiting for something, then snapped his fingers. The man exploded.

Kileb had judged the distance perfectly. He was just far enough from the explosion as to remain immaculate, at least as regards pieces of human being. He shook his head. "Rude chap," he remarked to no one in particular. "You," he said, pointing to another person, frozen in horror. "Tell your boss I'd like to see him, would you?"

"Y-yessir," replied the servitor, scuttling off to do as he was told. The castle was no longer very populated. There was significant wastage among those who served Naraku, due to things like Juuromaru and accidental witnessing of their lord cutting the spider off his back. Therefore only two people had been on hand to notice this latest death. One of them had been dispatched to Naraku. The other hurried off to her cubicle in the (now rather empty and echoing) servants quarters. She wasn't stupid. She had figured out before anyone that there was something wrong with the young lord. She had, in fact, started to smuggle other women and the children out shortly after the demon exterminators had been killed. With money to set them up in new lives. The young lord no longer cared about the treasures of the house. It had been easy to steal them. She was glad she had gotten so many of the others free.

Because hadn't she been right? Everyone who remained knew it now. Their lord was youkai, a monster who for some reason felt the need for this castle and their services. Although not _much_ for their services, given how they were dying like flies. No one could escape now, not with the shield up. He'd even picked up the castle and moved it, for crying out loud! They were stuck here until they died, which most of them expected to be quite soon. They were living on borrowed time, and all of them accepted this. Except one woman. The young woman sat on her sleeping mat and tried to figure out what impact this new quantity, the stranger who had killed Rani, could have on her escape plans. Escape obviously meant killing the bogus young lord, which would prove difficult. She had seen that one monster of his kill first Tomwe and Kino, then slice him apart, and he had lain there in pieces and laughed. Killing him meant pulverizing him. Meant getting those people he obsessed about into the castle, so they could handle it, since she had no illusions about her own capabilities as a fighter. She thought the demon-woman Kagura might be a good bet to help. Kagura obviously wanted to be free as much as she did.

She rose and began to climb stairs, slipping in a secret door in the wall of a passage and moving on from there until she came to the room where the demon sat, hardly ever going anywhere, just sitting like a spider in the middle of his web. Great lazy fool. She peered through the peep-hole into the room, and waited.

Her name was Yanagi, named for the willow that bends but will not break.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Naraku sent the messenger back to fetch this visitor, and he conducted him in and then fled, relieved to have accomplished this job without dying. Kileb sat down facing the shadowed form of Naraku, smiling as usual.

"Hello," he said, "I'm afraid I blew up one of your servants, hope you don't mind."

"Who are you?" Naraku asked.

"I've been called a lot of things. I suppose Kileb will do now."

"What do you want?"

"To offer you some assistance with a certain problem concerning a hanyou and his pack."

"Indeed?" replied Naraku, sounding mildly interested. "And why might you wish to do that?"

"That is my business, really. Suffice it to say that someone I strongly dislike is travelling with them. Someone who is presently going to give you trouble."

"The new girl?"

"She's powerful."

"What do you have to offer?"

Kileb explained. When he was done, Naraku considered in silence for a time. Quite apart from the advantages of having this man to help, he somehow felt that it would be…unwise…to have him as a foe. The melded youkai nodded. "Very well, then," he said. "We shall work together."

"Allies," said Kileb, nodding. And, without thinking, he offered the other his hand to shake. Naraku regarded it for a moment, then looked up and regarded Kileb dryly. And Kileb, master of mysteries, bane, terror of twelve worlds and conqueror of two, blushed at the realization that they didn't shake hands around here.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

They made camp, as the sky was getting dim, and Miroku took so long over the fire that Aerie pushed him aside and built it herself. Once it was burning merrily and they were settled, Sango said,

"I'm for a bath. Girls, you want to come?"

"Stream?" Aerie asked. "Or random hot spring?"

"Spring," Sango replied. "We passed one not too far back."

"Wow," said Aerie enthusiastically, "I haven't had a hot bath since the Seventh Crow Inn, and that was three weeks ago." She glanced at Inuyasha. "Hey, when was the last time you had _any_ kind of bath?" she asked him.

"You're not asking him along!" Sango exclaimed. Aerie laughed.

"No! I'm just curious. Baths don't seem high on his priority list, and right now he's looking pretty scruffy and I can smell him from here. Maybe he should take a bath when we're done."

"Feh," said Inuyasha. "Maybe."

"Come on," said Kagome, who had gotten her bathing things. "Let's go. I've got blood on me still, from Inuyasha and that battle." The three girls and Shippou went off together, Aerie commenting,

"How do you get the stains out of your uniform so often, Kags? I mean, surely you could wear something else so you don't have to go to school in a bloodstained uniform…."

Inuyasha and 'Miroku' were left in the camp together, Inuyasha lying beside the fire with his hands behind his head and the false houshi prodding it uncertainly. Inuyasha after a few seconds said,

"Did you break a container of ink, monk?"

"Eh?" said the black-robed man.

"You smell of ink. You've always smelled of ink, since I met you, but right now you smell so strongly of it I can't smell anything else on you at all."

"Er, yes, an ink container cracked last night. Got all over me."

"Mm-hm." Inuyasha replied noncommittally. 'Miroku' got up nervously.

"Well, I'd better, er…."

"Going to spy on the girls again, huh? You know what, I'm bored stopping you. Go ahead." A look of relief crossed the fake Miroku's face, but Inuyasha didn't see it, since he was facing the other way.

"Indeed." He said, and vanished through the trees after the girls.

"They'll catch him anyway," Inuyasha told the sky, and smiled slightly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

At the spring, Sango and Shippou had slid right in as soon as they were undressed, Kagome had carefully folded her clothes and was now choosing which soap to use, and Aerie was regarding the hot spring with a touch of bemusement.

"This is ridiculous, you know." She remarked.

"What is?" Shippou asked.

"The number of hot springs you guys manage to find. They're everywhere. I mean, sure Japan is in the Ring of Fire, but still..."

"The _what?_" Sango asked, confused. "What fire?"

"Oh, nothing. Big ring of tectonic activity around the Western Pacific." Sango shrugged; she was used to girls from the future and incomprehensible comments.

"Come on in," was all she said. Aerie jumped in with a slight splash and began rubbing energetically.

"Ooh, man, I'm filthy," she muttered, "Mom would freak." But Irene was worlds away and still presumed her dead, which was a bone of contention between Aerie and the others. _Trisak won't explain to them,_ she thought. _It's not fair to leave them grieving. For crying out loud, they're not going to lose it just because a guy with wings turns up explaining that their daughter is about sixty dimensions away._ She smiled. _Might think they've lost it for a while, but they'd get used to it._

She was distracted by Kagome, having finally chosen her soap and shampoo, climbed into the spring with them in one hand. "Hang on," she said. "Kagome, you're going to use…soap? In this spring? And you use it in streams and things too?"

"Yes," said Kagome. "I like to be clean." Aerie sighed.

"City girl. No doubt about it. I have a word for you, Kagome: Pollution. We don't have to deal with it here. Humans haven't gotten to the point where they blight everything they touch yet. And we are both so lucky to be here. It is not _responsible_ of you to use soap in a water source! Things live in water. Things _need _water. Sure, you're not going to kill off any species washing your hair, but still. Come on. Soap yourself up out of the water, and then I'll pour water over you. Then at least it'll just be dirt you're soaping."

"O-okay…" said Kagome, taken aback by the fervor with which Aerie defended the spring. She ducked under the water and then climbed out and began to soap herself up. Aerie wrapped herself in one of the towels Kagome had so kindly brought along, ran back to camp to fetch something to rinse Kagome with, startled the living daylights out of Inuyasha, and ran back to the spring with a large metal bowl in one hand. When she got there Kagome was covered in soap and had her hair piled on her head, sudsy with shampoo, and was shivering a little in the cold. Aerie filled the bowl with water and emptied it over Kagome's head, then went back for another load, crying,

"Don't open your eyes, Kags!" After she had emptied that one, she turned back for one more bowl of water and then paused, staring up into the canopy of the trees. "Hey!" she shouted, and threw the bowl.

It met skull with a _clang_, and small branches cracked as the black-robed figure fell toward the water, to Sango's cry of,

"In a _tree?_" He hit the water with a splash, almost squashing Shippou, and stood up unsteadily, not quite unconscious, water pouring down his face in black runnels. Sango saw to the not-quite-unconscious part, pounding him even more thoroughly than she had the previous evening. When he was completely out, she picked him up by the scruff of the neck and dragged him onto the bank, scowling. "You two," she said, "Finish your bath. _I'll_ deal with this hentai."

"His hair is going white," Aerie observed. "Look." Sango looked.

"Hm," she agreed. She dumped the peeping tom on the ground and dried herself off furiously, getting dressed. Once she had her uniform back on, she took him off into the woods, carrying him over her shoulder. When she was gone, Aerie let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Wow. I haven't seen anyone that angry since Reg found the guy who'd killed his father. I hope she doesn't kill him."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

He woke up groggily, and stood. He was in woods. Hadn't he been…in a spring…? He gave a strangled shout as someone pounced from behind him and grabbed him.

"Alright," she muttered in his ear, keeping him in a headlock, "Who are you, and what have you done with Miroku?"

"I'm Shayanui," he said, his voice somewhat muffled by the way she had his jaw locked shut, "And I stashed him in a hollow tree."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

So, whadya think? I hope the length of this chappy makes up for the wait. So what's with Inuyasha? Is he just an idiot, or what, given that he appears to be the only one not suspicious? Oh, I hope nobody minds that Shippou was there for that whole bathing scene. He's a little kid, you know? He's gone bathing with them before. I couldn't have him stay at the camp, because that would mess up the little discussion between Shayanui and Inuyasha. What do you think of Yanagi? She just wrote herself, I couldn't seem to stop it if I wished to. I've _always_ been rather interested in those constantly dying and pitifully yanked about occupants of that castle.

**Shayanui:** How did I get here? Wasn't I just being strangled?

**Trisak:** You're in an author's note. Now you get to yell at me for what I've been doing to you for the last chapter.

**Shayanui: **Really, to tell you the truth, after having Melanie as my Sakusha this is nothing.

**Trisak:** Really? Cooool. One of you doesn't hate me! And it's the one I've just had beaten practically to a pulp twice in a row! I love living in this universe. Nothing ever makes sense.

**Shayanui:** And besides, you let me see naked girls.

**Sango:** That's right, that was your fault:raises Hiraikotsu: Trisak Aminawn, you are going down.

**Trisak:** Whoa! Calm down! Sango, you wouldn't hurt me, would you:backs into corner: Come on, I only did what you wanted! You're getting page time! Lots of it! And you're not unconscious! Come on, put Hiraikotsu down, don't make me turn you into a chicken, because that would screw up the storyline rather a lot….

**Shippou:** Sango a chicken? Trisak, please don't do that! Foxes eat chickens!

**Trisak:** Oh, all right, Shippou, but only because you're so cute. What do you want from me, Sango?

**Sango:** I want a decent fight. In which I don't get quickly knocked out and have to be rescued.

**Trisak:** Ok, taijiya, you got it, but remember it's thanks to Shi- O.O :slaps Shayanui: HENTAI!


	11. Of Copycats and Captains

4/11/05

Disclaimer: The disclaimer is on vacation. You all know what it's supposed to say. If you don't, write to it in Bermuda.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Melly-chan in thanks for her permission to use Shayanui, who I don't actually know very well anyway and so would be butchering even without the moronic way I've been using him. Also for her patient explanation of copy-cat youkai, and like permission to use _that_ concept of hers.

**medlii:** Hahhah! I made you laugh! I hope his reasoning isn't _too_ hard to follow here – the problem is, whopping Miroku like that is really OOC for him, so I had to kind of shuffle a little. Luckily, Melanie will never read this in a million years, so I don't have to worry about her wrath when she sees what I had her character do. Oh, you thought Aerie's bugging was a little too much this chappie? A lot of people (including my mother ) seem to agree. I'll work on it. The thing about Aerie is that yes, she can get very annoying. It's a character trait of hers. She approaches all problems head on and with an air of absolute conviction that she is correct in her behavior. Even when she isn't sure at all. She has a good heart, but as Kagome said, she is not Miss Tactful of the Year. O.o Do you not like Kags?

**NefCanuck:** Ah, well, he isn't used to the whole getting-things-tossed-at-him thing like Miroku is.:smiles:She'll bounce him, she'll bounce him…she's an awfully grim person, isn't she? Just noticed that lately, trying to write her. Professional warriors…tch.

Trisak'smom: Hi, mom! waves Yeah, it's a temporary thing, pretty much. She was really annoyed about the whole Miroku thing, and it made her want to address every other problem she came across. Ferociously. However, all the things she addresses are things _I've_ always wanted to bring up. Does that mean you don't like me? tear I would've been nicer about it, though, this girl has _no_ tact. Didn't grow up along with me, y'see. :smiles:

**Gem Gamgee:** Aw, are you sick? I'm sorry. Better yet? is aware she has taken forever on this chapter Heh, I'm glad you liked that. How I slapped him in a dialogue I don't know. Same way Inu got sat, I guess….

**biggest anime fan:** Whew, this's gonna be long…. OK, first of all, yay for criticism! I'd been suspecting that was a problem and my beta even said so, but I kept not fixing it. This may be because she's my little sister and I'm in the habit of not taking her opinions seriously enough. I will now do my utmost to fix it. I just have to stick an extra 'said' or so in…. Thanks once again for all compliments…O.o; you think my plot's fantastic? I'm just running with it, you know. As for Kikyou, she's definitely in because I just can't leave her out, but until I actually wrote her in just now, I didn't know when. I have to get in Lel', Trisak, the bagpipe episodes, more Rath, more Yanagi, and phase Shayanui out somehow without just _dropping_ him, because I hate it when characters get dropped. I think I'll save Sesshy for the sequel, because I have entirely too many players as it is.

Aw, that came out properly sweet? I'm glad. Ooh, you like the way I'm doing him? I'm trying to keep him more or less in character, but I'm sure I can't help changing him somehow. Or at least interpreting him. That is the best part of fanficcing a manga or anime, it's a different medium and you therefore have more latitude than if you fanficced a book… I'm on a tangent. I'll stop now. You make me so happy. sings It's funny! It's funny! The ideas…? Actually, a lot of them were developed during conversations with Maya, stupid jokes one of us made, and things…. Not that one, though. But most of the Naraku-Kileb scene was. Nah, you're not supposed to know Yanagi. She turned up quite forcefully in the middle of the chapter, and here she is. I like her, too. I hadn't thought about it in those terms…yeah, she's very self-sacrificing. You'll see, she can be pretty cold, too, though, about anyone she doesn't consider part of the people she has taken responsibility for. How would you see it coming? I didn't explain _how_ he looked like Inuyasha last time. Although I thought the color-inversion might be a clue to who he was. winks fans self and passes out at all the compliments and niceness

**COOKIES FOR EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! YOU ARE ALL VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE AND I LOVE YOU! YES, YOU! A COOKIE FOR YOU AND YOU AND YOU AND YOU ANDYOU! WHOOT!**

* * *

Alright," she muttered in his ear, keeping him in a headlock, "Who are you, and what have you done with Miroku?"

"I'm Shayanui," he said, his voice somewhat muffled by the way she had his jaw locked shut, "And I stashed him in a hollow tree."

Sango blinked and almost let go of him. She'd expected the confession to be a lot harder to get. As if sensing her confusion, he continued, "There's no point to lying about it, now that you've caught me. I don't have an evil secret mission or anything."

"So what are you up to?" she demanded.

"I just wanted to see if I was any good as an actor." He sighed. "And I guess I'm not."

Sango realized two things. One, that he hadn't asked her to let go of him because she was touching him all down his back while keeping him in a headlock, and two, Miroku might be in real trouble.

"I don't have time to hear the story behind this right now, Shayanui, or why you look like Miroku right now, though you had better explain it all later. Now we are going back to camp, you are telling the others what you did, and then you are taking us to where you left Miroku. But first…." She let go, stepped back, and gave him the wallop of all time on the back of the head, sending him hurtling forward into a tree. "Miroku I pummel for peeking at us," she said. "_You_ I am going thoroughly thrash."

When she had completed the thrashing she yanked him upright and dragged him in the direction of the camp by his ear, he all the while keeping up a muttered chant that went 'Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.'

* * *

Inuyasha had heard the noise of Shayanui's discovery from where he lay, and frowned.

"I thought they'd notice him sooner," he said, but didn't do anything. Kagome would just sit him if he came charging in, and Sango plainly had it under control. After all noise had ceased he got up, vanishing temporarily to catch a brace of rabbits and, after a moment's consideration, skinning and spitting them. His efforts to suspend the spitted rabbits over the fire included them plummeting toward the flames several times, several burns, and much swearing. He finally got it positioned, but watched it warily, lest it decide to collapse again and burn Kagome's dinner. Although she didn't appear to like rabbit, even when it was cooked for her. He didn't know why.

The sound of a breaking stick made him turn his head, and he sniffed. "Come out, Miroku. How'd that son of an onii get you to stay behind, anyway?" There was a short silence and then Miroku came out of the bushes. There were always a lot of bushes around for people to come out of. They should really find less ambushable campsites.

Miroku was wearing nothing but his pants; having been robbed of everything else, his hair was sticking up at odd angles and falling in his face, and he leaned on a silver version of his own staff. He looked uncharacteristically annoyed.

"If you knew he wasn't me, why didn't you confront him and wait for me to catch up?" he asked, collapsing beside the fire and sending the rabbit toppling. Inuyasha dived after it with a curse, saved it before it hit the ashes that would render it uneatable, and then attempted to set it up again. Miroku slid in after watching his incompetence for a moment, nimble fingers relieving the hanyou of spit and support poles and manufacturing a stable construction out of them. Inuyasha watched for a moment, nursing his burned hands, and then remembered the question.

"I suspected," he said. "I didn't _know_." _And if it _had_ been you I would have felt really bad about confronting you,_ he added silently.

"Couldn't you smell that he wasn't me? While I was tracking you I saw my own footprints. If he hadn't stolen my clothes I would have thought I was losing my sanity. Why did you suspect but not know?" Miroku was thoroughly incensed. Inuyasha had never seen him like this. He was shouting. Rather to his own surprise, he found himself responding to the houshi's emoting by becoming calm. Miroku glowered at him.

"You couldn't start a fire." The hanyou replied.

"_What?_"

"That was what made me almost sure, just this evening. Whoever was pretending to be you couldn't start a fire. The Amaireecan wench had to do it for him. And he tried to dodge when Sango went for him. I couldn't smell it because he doused himself in ink, I don't know why. Ink has a very strong smell. And one reason I wasn't sure was that he knew all our names and he groped Sango." He paused. "Was that everything you asked?" Miroku thought a moment.

"I think so." They were silent for a moment more.

"So what happened?" Inuyasha asked. Miroku shrugged.

"Whoever it was came up behind me and hit me on the head. I woke up with a terrible headache and found myself stuffed into a hollow tree with a white and yellow robe and this staff. I got out and started following you. I was sure he was going to eat all of you in your sleep or something. He hasn't done anything, has he?"

"Nothing you don't do," Inuyasha replied. Miroku blinked, then turned red.

"Oh," he said, figuring out what Inuyasha meant. "Where is everyone?"

"The females and the brat went off to bathe about half an hour ago. He followed them a little later. I heard a little battle a while back -" he broke off. Miroku was white as a sheet. "You don't think-"

"If he caught them without their weapons…" Miroku said. "He could have eaten them by now and left!" As one the males snatched up their weapons and rose, ready to dash to the rescue or revenge. Or look foolish, if the girls had taken the demon out. They never got a chance to do either.

"Glad to see you're alert," Sango remarked as she stepped out of the bushes. (Those so narratively convenient but practically annoying bushes!) Then, as her sleep deprived brain caught up, "_Miroku?_" She dropped Shayanui facefirst into the dust and more or less flew over to the houshi, embracing him quickly in her delight at seeing him whole and hale and then stepping back before he could spoil the reunion by copping a feel. "You're alive!" she exclaimed, holding him at arms' length by the shoulders. "I was worried."

"What do you think I am?" Shayanui asked as he picked himself up. "I wouldn't have killed him!"

"Well, I'm sorry that taking people out and usurping their places doesn't inspire trust, Shayanui," she replied. Miroku's eyebrows shot up.

"Shayanui? That was _you?_ I don't understand. I thought we got along so well."

"We did," Shayanui responded shamefacedly. "I guess that was why I picked you…look, it was a stupid idea! I feel terrible about it. It's just…." He buried his head in his hands. No one there felt disposed to be very sympathetic. Sango he had peeped at, Miroku he had hit over the head and impersonated, and Inuyasha…was Inuyasha. It took exceptional cases to arouse his sympathy.

"Why don't you tell us what was going through your head at the time," Miroku said at last. "You never know. It might actually turn out to be a good reason." Shayanui shook his white-tressed head.

"It wasn't. It was just…well, I just did my first copy the other day – that was when I met you, right after – and I wanted to see if I was a good actor or not. I can't act someone I don't know, and you were the only people I know, so I followed you, and Miroku is the person I'm most like – I guess that means you're the opposites of one another," he told Inuyasha and Miroku, "So I wanted to take his place, so I could see if I could fool you guys. I don't know what I thought I was doing. I know I'm not going to ever do that again." The three watched him for a minute, then Sango looked at Miroku and said,

"Did that make any more sense to you than it did to me?"

"I don't believe so."

"Hmph," said Inuyasha. "How does he know you guys anyway?"

"We ran into him while, um," she had been going to say 'while you were dead,' but that would be just strange, "While you'd been captured. He killed a few enemies, then vanished."

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU REALIZE IT MIGHT BE HIM WHEN YOU NOTICED SOMETHING WRONG WITH MIROKU!" Inuyasha demanded, plainly appalled.

"Because he looked like _you_ then, Inuyasha. Calm down, will you?"

"Only inverted," Miroku added. "He had black hair and he was in green. Now, Shayanui, let's have an explanation." His reverse image gulped.

"Alright. Let's sit down. I really am sorry, you know." So they all sat down. There was a brief interruption while Inuyasha snatched the meat off the fire, and then Shayanui began.

It seemed that he was something called a copycat youkai. In his natural form, he was something like a cat with the hind legs of a bird, and in this natural form he could not speak to any but his own kind, which were apparently rather rare. He could, however, turn into a color-inverted copy of any creature by ingesting a small piece of their anatomy, a hair or a drop of blood or anything like that. ('So that would be why you cut my hair and took it with you,' Miroku commented drily, lifting a lock of it to demonstrate that his ponytail was missing.) The first time he copied someone, it lasted for a day. The second in a row, for three, and the third in a row, it lasted until he cared to shed it. From a copycat's first ever copy, it obtained a gender, a name, and a personality, that it kept through all subsequent copies.

"And _you _were my first ever copy, Inuyasha," Shayanui explained. "I got some of your blood in the forest, just by chance. By accident, actually."

"You're nothing like me," the hanyou grumbled.

"Exactly!" Shayanui agreed. "I'm your opposite."

"Outgoing, polite, talkative," said Sango, "Not a fighter, trusting, and perverted. But tell me," and she narrowed her eyes slightly, "Inuyasha, despite everything else, is a fundamentally good person." Inuyasha muttered something about what did she mean, despite everything else, but inside it felt rather good to hear her describe him as a good person. "Does that make you a fundamentally bad person?" Shayanui blanched.

"I-I don't _think_ so…." He said uncertainly. "I don't think it works like that. I _hope_ not…."

"I suppose we'll give you the benefit of the doubt," Sango decided. "For now. But behave yourself, you hear?"

"I hear, Lady Sango, I hear!" he assured her. "I'll be good, I promise!" At that moment, Aerie, Kagome, and Shippo arrived, did double takes at the sopping-wet, white-haired Miroku and the shirtless, short-haired one.

"Er…" said Aerie. "Is _one_ of them real?" she asked hopefully.

"That one," said Shayanui, Inuyasha, and Sango, all pointing at Miroku. Shayanui rose and swept a bow.

"Shayanui, at your service, sorry to have troubled you," he said.

"…" said the three late arrivals. So the story was all told all over again and everyone sat down once more.

* * *

Two of what appeared to be men were sitting in the gloom of a mostly empty room in a castle, occupied only by themselves, the mat the dark-haired one sat on, the cushion the red-headed one was lounging on, and a number of large jars. They had been sitting there since Kileb had first arrived, Kileb explaining his recent (rather embarrassing) encounter with Aerie and the inu-tachi, and Naraku summing up all of his past interactions with them. Or at least, as much as each felt the other ought to know. Both had already decided to find another source to query about those happenings. Now they were both being silent.

"That was a nice trick," Kileb said after a while, referring to Naraku's temporary existence as a disembodied head after that disastrous encounter when Kagome's arrow had found him. "You really don't depend on your body for much, do you? Or not much that you actually _do_. It's just reassuring to have it, isn't it?" Naraku concurred. He also had a whole complex to do with having an operational body that went back to Onigumo.

"Indeed," he replied. "You don't seem to depend on yours much either."

"What, this thing?" Kileb said, raising his eyebrows. He regarded one of his hands for a moment, then simply let it fade away. "I can't do all that much harm without a physical form to anchor in," he replied, "But it's just the illusion of a body, really." He pulled the corporeal 'illusion' back together and shrugged. "Do you ever miss it?" he asked offhandedly.

"Miss what?"

"Oh, just existing, before it became such a chore." Naraku looked at him, rather surprised by this attitude. Or at least by the way it was expressed.

"I do not think I know what you are talking about," he replied, totally honest for once. Kileb looked at him through narrowed green eyes.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, would you?" he said consideringly, and for a moment he almost seemed to be sorry about something. "Well, it's better like that, maybe. You don't have to keep forgetting things on purpose." _You think I don't?_ Naraku thought ironically. "Do you ever wish you had a family?" Kileb asked him, "Parents and so on?"

"Why would I wish to have parents?" Naraku asked. Kileb shrugged.

"Emotional stability? Never mind. Do you like robins?" Now the look Naraku gave him was nothing short of disturbed.

"Why...of all things…would you ask that?"

"Makes conversation. And more interesting than the weather, especially after several thousand years of it. So, do you?" Naraku looked away.

"No. They're too cheerful." He opined. Kileb threw up his hands.

"Again with the angst! Alright, so not robins. What do you like?" Naraku opened his mouth, but then shut it. He hesitated, his brows lowering. Kileb watched him as he considered. "That wasn't supposed to be a trick question, you know." He remarked. Naraku shrugged. "You must like something."

"Must I?"

"Well, the feeling of power is a good start, but it doesn't seem like even that does much for you. Let's see. Do you prefer to be where it's light or in the dark?"

"The dark," Naraku replied.

"And are you glad to be in the dark as opposed to the light when you are?"

"No." Naraku replied, in a tone which said clearly, You are wasting my time. Kileb raised an eyebrow.

"Well." Then he lapsed into silence. "I'm trying to list your good points," he remarked after a while. "It's…interesting. Tenacity, to the point of neuroticism. Guile. Oh, about those baboon skins, has there been massive slaughter of albino baboons across this island recently, or do you conjure them up in the mistaken impression that they look somehow impressive or intimidating?"

"Why does it matter?" asked Naraku, feeling put upon.

"I like baboons. So? Where do you get them?"

"I conjure them," responded Naraku, blinking. This…person he was working with was plainly wholly insane.

"Good. So, tenacity, guile, lack of slaughter of baboons, lack of cannibalism, er…. Point five. I need a point five." Naraku regarded him with a vague sense of astonishment that someone as old, powerful, and ruthless as Kileb had shown himself to be was still capable of being so…silly. "Come on, Naraku, you know Naraku better than I do." _I wouldn't count on it,_ Naraku thought.

"I can play the bagpipes," he said, which was simply the first thing that came into his head. Kileb smiled.

"Good enough. Tenacity, guile, lack of baboon slaughter, lack of cannibalism, plays the bagpipes." Naraku shook his head slowly to himself as the other rose and left the room. He was mad. Powerful, dangerous, functionally rational, deadly, and, at least until he opened his mouth, imposing, but completely insane.

* * *

"So we'll see you some other time?" Aerie said. Shayanui nodded and gave a charming smile.

"Someday. We'll see how long it takes you to recognize me, hm?" She swatted his bare shoulder and scowled at him.

"Oh, get on with you! Go charm someone with a little less sense."

"Farewell, fair lady," he said, sweeping a bow.

"See you around," she replied.

"Goodbye," Miroku said, looking up from wringing out his robe, which he had reclaimed from Shayanui. "You'll be alright traveling in the dark?"

"I'll be fine," the copycat youkai said. "Goodbye, all of you."

"Hmph," said Inuyasha.

"Bye," said Sango and Kagome.

"See you 'round, Shippou," Shayanui said, ruffling Shippou's hair. The kitsune granted him a small smile.

"Seeya." He said. The golden-eyed doppelganger of Miroku smiled back at him and left, vanishing into the darkness beyond the circle of firelight.

* * *

Yanagi slipped down the passageway, thinking hard. She had left right after the new man had, with plenty to think about. What use might this new girl be?

She came into the kitchen, where most of the remaining servants were hanging about. Most of the lordly folk who had been in the castle had either vanished or died long ago, the Hitomi clan was decimated, and the new occupants did not appear to see the need for things like baths and food. The servants found themselves with time on their hands, which most of them spent trying to stay as far away from the false Hitomi Kagewaki and his lackeys as they could. He had arranged for there to be food for them at some point. It arrived every week or so, not at all reliably, brought in by the woman Kagura or by some other demon whom he sent to do it. There were a few who genuinely were enjoying the first freedom they had ever known, ignoring the fact that they could die at any moment. You could die at any moment from the day you were born. There had also been those who had ignored the obvious fact that Kagewaki was not himself and been resolutely obedient. They had all died by now.

And then there was Yanagi. Yanagi and what she called her 'pack.' They skulked in shadows, they spied on meetings, they knew all the secret passages of the castle between them – although Yanagi was the only one who knew them all. There were six of them now, her pack, and they reported to her dutifully, keeping her informed about anything she might have missed while she was in another part of the castle. There had been seven just this morning. There were two of her pack in the kitchen just now, as she entered. One was sitting with his wife, the other feeding her daughter rice.

"Myaki. Erisu." She said. They looked up, then put aside what they were doing and came over to her. They did not ignore their captain when she wanted them. "Rani is dead," she said, breaking the news without preamble. Myaki closed his eyes for moment. Rani had been his friend.

"How?" He asked.

"He didn't watch his tongue." Yanagi said. "There's a new demon in the place, or something like one. Hirigo was there. Hasn't he been talking about it?" Erisu shook her head.

"No. He hasn't been here."

"Keh," Yanagi said. "Probably hiding in a corner somewhere. I've just found out that the Dog's Squad has a new member, just like Naraku's Company." She had learnt the name of the creature long ago. "I think she could be useful. Erisu, there will be new slave-troops arriving soon. They'll probably associate with the boy. If they do, find out all you can." Erisu had made friends with Kohaku a while back. When he wasn't working, she said he was rather a sweet child. She was working on him. There had to be some reason he served Naraku, and she was going to do something about it, whatever it was. "Myaki, go find Kagura for me."

"Right," said Myaki. "You'll be talking to her?"

"As soon as I get my final pieces of information," she affirmed. "I'm going back up. Get Desi to cover for me." There were still a few tasks everyone was expected to take care of. One of them was the washing. Demons generated a huge amount of laundry and sewing. They did _not_ take good care of their clothes. Yanagi had become professional at avoiding her turn – _always _for a good reason, of course, but she hadn't done laundry in weeks.

"He's going to catch you someday," Myaki said, shaking his head. He was not talking about laundry. Yanagi gave a rare smile.

"See, this is one way I _know _he's not Kagewaki. He doesn't know about the passages." Kagewaki had known. They had played there, when he had been strong enough. He had always been so weak, and he had hated it. She had feared, for a while, that her childhood friend had sold himself to the demon for strength. But no. She wondered what had happened to him. He was probably dead. "I'm glad Rani wasn't married," she said. "I hate telling the family." Myaki touched her arm.

"I know, Yanagi." He said. She raised her eyebrows at him, then swirled out of the kitchen and up the stairs again.

"Jaa!"

* * *

The tachi was settling down for the night. Miroku was bemoaning the loss of his hair, whereupon Shippou told him he sounded like Manten and they got into a quiet argument. Sango was already asleep. Kagome was powdering her nose, or something. Aerie and Inuyasha were sitting on opposite sides of the fire, lost in thought. Suddenly Aerie looked up with a devilish light in her eyes.

"So, can I touch them?" she asked. Inuyasha blinked at her.

"Touch what?" he asked, utterly nonplussed.

"Your ears, of course," she replied. He growled softly.

"What is it with my ears? Why do people always maul them?"

"Inu no mimi are so _cute_, Inuyasha. You know, I haven't seen a real dog since I got here? I like dogs." ((A/N: I_ don't._)) Inuyasha blinked, trying to come up with a response to her insinuation that he was some kind of inferior replacement to petting a dog. 'I'm as good as a dog,' for example, obviously would not work. "So, can I touch them?" she repeated. He snarled.

"Sure. But then I'll have to cut off your hand."

She raised her eyebrows.

"I'll pass, thanks," she replied, tucking her hands behind her head. "Was your mother nice?" she asked the leaves of the tree above them.

"Er…."

"I mean, she obviously wasn't terrible, because you loved her, but was she nice?"

"Feh," Inuyasha said, scowling. "You know nothing. Leave me alone. My mother was wonderful." Aerie smiled.

"I'm glad," she said. "And your father? To have raised someone like Sesshoumaru, he must have had some issues."

"Will you keep your mouth off my family?" he demanded. "Father was great, too. A little distant, maybe, but he was great. Sesshoumaru gets it all from his mother."

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're right, it's none of my business. Especially since I keep not telling you things." He looked up, a calculating look in his eye.

"That's right. I answered your questions, now you have to tell me."

"Uh, alright, but my family is boring. My mother's a psychiatrist and my father's a teacher."

"Your mother's a _what_?"

"A doctor for the disturbed and insane. She's good at it. She avoids prescribing meds. Dad teaches math to tenth graders."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Nothing like as interesting as your family." _That depends on where you're looking at it from,_ Inuyasha thought, picturing growing up in a house constantly filled with crazies and a scholar. It would explain a few things.

"So is that where you get it from?" he asked.

"Eh?"

"From your mother, dealing with loonies. Where you get your…" He searched for a word. "Spunk." To his surprise, she winced.

"Maybe. Kinda. I wish." She replied. She chuckled slightly. "Look at you. When did I lie down on your couch?"

"Uh…." Inuyasha said. She laughed.

"Never mind. I'm glad we had this little talk, big guy." She was actually an inch taller than him. It was fun being in ancient Japan. Everyone was short. She stretched. "I'm going to bed. Or to blanket. Whatever. I always hated camping when I was a kid…."

Suddenly she stiffened, catching sight of a hovering eel. Inuyasha caught sight of it, too, just before Kagome appeared from the forest, out of breath, a scratch on her cheek, and then she had his full attention. He leapt over to her, checking her for injury, and she smiled at him to show she was alright. Miroku and Shippou broke off their discussion and gravitated toward the action. Sango sat up straight, awoken, and tumbled upright. "Kikyou?" Aerie asked Kagome. The other girl nodded. "She try to kill you again?" Kagome shook her head. "Can you talk?" Kagome shook her head. "Why not?" Aerie asked. Kagome shot her a look. "Er, right. Let's play Twenty Questions. Did Kikyou do it?" Kagome nodded. "Was it because of something you said?" Kagome nodded again. "Something about her?" Kagome shook her head in denial. "Something about Inuyasha, then?" Kagome tilted her head as if to say, Not exactly. "Something about her _and_ Inuyasha?" Pretty much, said Kagome's nod. Inuyasha was looking more and more disturbed as the discussion progressed. "Huh. And for this she sealed your mouth? Funny. I thought she was developing a complex about you, with all the stuff she said to Tsubaki." She went over to the older girl and bent down slightly, taking her face between her hands. Not an inch over five feet. Honestly. "Miroku?" she said after a moment. "Could you give me a hand here? Kikyou works magic all back to front." He came over, saying,

"I don't really know all that much about miko spells, I warn you."

"Doesn't matter. Just tell me if this curlicue thingy is at the beginning or the end of the spell." He looked at her blankly and she sighed. "I guess I'll have to wing it. This would be a _really_ good time for Trisak to show up." A moment and several peculiar noises later, Kagome could talk again.

"Th-thanks," she said, leaning into Inuyasha, who was still standing at her shoulder. "That felt really strange. All I said was that Inuyasha shouldn't die for caring about her." Inuyasha looked down.

"Inuyasha," said Aerie. "Can I talk to her?" He hesitated. "I'll come and get you if she needs you," she promised. "I swear." Slowly, he nodded.

"Go ahead."

* * *

Whoot! Eight pages! I was on a roll! From now on, I am going to be making the chapters longer, partly because I've got three places to plot-service, and partly because to get the whole story done without running to fifty chapters, I have to. Oh, and to make you happy! That's important too! Sorry this took so long; I have evil amounts of homework suddenly. (Phooey to lab reports.) Plus, the internet went down. It did! Seriously! It made me sad.

In case you didn't catch it, part of the Yanagi sequence was kind of spoofing all those scenes with police captains or the leaders of troops of warriors, where they're soldiering on despite losing someone, etc., etc., and the whole thing is wearing on them.

**Yanagi:** Please, ma'am, could you tell me where I am?

**Trisak: **Spare me the innocent servant girl act. You're in my author's note. This is your chance to complain about your life.

**Yanagi:** …

**Trisak:** Although I know it must be more fulfilling than scurrying around following orders.

**Yanagi:** …

**Trisak:** I'd recommend being a little less obvious about the whole boss thing, by the way. If there's an informant, you are so grilled.

**Yanagi:** …do I get paid for working in this story?

**Trisak:** :aside: I hate practical people. Sure, Yanagi. You get paid.

**Yanagi:** Good.

**Trisak:** Oh, and about the secret passages, I know I'm playing fast and loose with Japanese architecture, but bear with me, will you? Pretend the walls aren't mostly paneling, and that there is space in this castle for loads of secret passages. The Hitomi clan is super-paranoid, okay? I NEED these secret passages. Yanagi would not get away with listening at doors in a castle full of demons. OFF I GO, INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER…!

(Oh, yeah. And my birthday is next week! Wheeeeeeee!)


	12. Of Crunchy Pastries and Bodyguarding

52 REVIEWS! WOW! THAT MAKES ME HAPPY! YESSSS! 0

Peopleses, in manga 21 it says that all the servitors are dead from being exposed to the shield's poison. Phooey to that. I DON'T CARE! You notice all the corpses Kagura brings in are in armour. Therefore they are not the scrub-the-floor-and-cook-the-dinner types. Yanagi kept her people to the center, how's that? They all stayed far enough away from the shield itself that they're fine! Does that work? Pretend with me? Even though there are dead people not in armour in this one panel…. :scowls at manga received for birthday: Now I have to wonder what else I've missed! Grr, I wish we got television reception so I could watch the anime, or else that the translators translated faster. :throws tantrum: OK, I'm better now. We can move on.

Disclaimer: I disclaim everyone here ensconced, if ensconced is even the applicable verb, and this world. I also disclaim the name Trisak, since it properly belongs to him and not me!

**medlii:** Heh. Devoured by Shayanui. _They_ didn't know it was unlikely! Hee, he actually plays them pretty well! I do my best at keeping them involved…. Fact is, my writing is so much more involved in the characters than the plot it gets annoying sometimes. Oh, it _did_ remind you of them? Hee, I did it well. Always fun to play on a cliché. It was _nice_ of Shippou! I thought he was making fun of the houshi! Yes, eight pages is a happy length! Thank you! Heh, she's not so 'great' this chapter, I fear. Meh, she's such a _busybody_. I might end up with fifty anyway, if I can't figure out how to end it! O.o Shayanui doll…. Looking like Inuyasha or Miroku…? Or maybe it's one of those altering action figures with the funny helmets and rotating heads with two faces on….

**biggest anime fan:** Yeah, we did make that up together…. In point of fact, what we did was sit around on my bed with me being Kileb and her being Naraku, and I tormented him a bit, and the bagpipes and a lot of the rest of that discussion is directly from there. Heh. It was fun. O.O Kileb fan…. He'll be happy….

Kileb: Why, of course she likes me, Trisak old bean. What's not to like::preens:

Trisak: I'm the wrong Trisak, you don't know me. And you're evil, that's what!

Kileb: Evil? Oh, that hurts, Trisak, that hurts. I'm wounded. Look, punch me, I bleed.

Trisak: You do not! Now be quiet, this is my review reply, you're not supposed to be here.

Kileb: Going, going…. See you later, fan girl. :flashes peace sign at baf:

OK. :is happy::is happy some more: I update now! Love you lots and lots!

**Trisaksmom:** Heh, thanks, mom. Yeah, he'll probably put in another appearance or so…. O.O Kileb's a Mary Sue? Yeah, I like the curlique thingy too. We already discussed all this, so hasta la vista, and vivé my birthday cake, since you're frosting it as I type this!

**Ganheim:** :gulps: …has _returned?_ Does that mean you don't think it's been funny for a while? But thanks. I can't believe it…all these quotes in the review and you say nice things…. To get such a criticism-short review from _you_…wow. I know I must have done a good job. As to the bagpipes, they actually originally came from Syria, doncha know, so I was thinking more along the lines of a set or so coming east from there a while back, and one of the demons who became Naraku learning how to play, and it just stuck…. Heh, I'm weird, I know. OK, I'll work on that paragraph. And, sorry, but it's good to know it, right? Aw, poor kanji victim.

**Gem Gamgee:** Eeeek! I've been squee'd again! But this time I didn't get CHOMPED afterward. Or, wait, was the squeee a set of bagpipes and not a killer rabbit? Oh, well. Cookies for being my fiftieth reviewer! Yays! And, oooh, ICE CREAM! And you got it to me on my really-truly birthday, too::Goes faint with astonishment at all the nice things Gem says: T.T such kindness…. Sniff. Wow, I need a tissue….

Äerie went through the forest, to where Kikyou was advertising her presence so blatantly it made the girl sigh. She _could_ tone it down a little bit. Of course, Kikyou thought she was the most powerful thing in existence…she should really tangle with Sesshoumaru some time. See who came off the better.

"Kikyou," she said, looking up through the leaves at her. What was it about trees and her? Had she had this tree fetish when she was alive, too?

"Where is Inuyasha?" Kikyou asked her.

"Looking after Kagome," Aerie replied, hoisting herself into the tree and beginning to climb toward the miko. "You have got to learn to control your temper, Keeks. I understand why you might be jealous of her, but you've already taken a lot away."

"Why should I be jealous of Kagome?" Kikyou asked, grey eyes hooded. "She has nothing I do not. Excepting life." Aerie raised her eyebrows, coming to rest on a limb beside Kikyou. She sat straight and swung her legs, looking askance at the miko's draped posture.

"That seems like a good reason to be jealous right there. But that's not what I meant. You once told her that she was you, and that there need be only one of you in this reality. I think you were right, Kikyou. She's the girl you could have been. She has a joy to her, a softness, that you never had. She treats everyone as an equal. You might have been her. If you hadn't had the care of the Shikon no Tama, if you hadn't had no parents to care for you, if you hadn't had to grow so…hard." Aerie smiled slightly. "True, there are a few ways I'd prefer to be you, like not being so silly about some things. No one would ever call you a ditz. But you broke your last pair of rose-colored glasses a long time ago. She has the chance to be happy, still, and you…don't. All you can do is make other people sad."

"Inuyasha's life is mine," Kikyou told her with an air of cutting straight to the heart of her argument. Aerie shook her head.

"Oh, Kikyou. His life is his own."

"I will not be pitied," Kikyou said, fingers of ice curling through her voice.

"Let him go. The heart of loving someone is being able to let them go. You can only hurt him now, Kikyou. Are you really this selfish?"

"If I were selfish, I would have taken him and gone long ago. I remain only to banish Naraku from this world."

"Yes, your lovely duty. You are dutiful, Kikyou, and you spent your life in service, but…. You never really respected anyone." She looked at the miko sadly. "Never respected anyone, never allowed yourself to care. I know why you did. And I never said you were evil. Though that might come, if you spend too long here in the temporal worlds, which aren't yours anymore. I can already see it happening. But…." She shook her head. "You look after everyone, Kikyou, in your own way. And everyone always looks to you, adores you, loves you. But who looks after you? Who can you look to when you're sad or frightened? There is no one. There's never _been_ anyone. And you will never admit to those things." Kikyou looked at the girl. Who was she, to presume to understand her?

"Be silent," she commanded, using the same method of silencing that she had used on her reincarnation. Aerie ducked.

"Nuh-uh, Keeks. Don't try that on me. Kagome might have just as much power as you do, but she's never had any training. I've had training myself and inherited quite a lot from an…inhabitant of mine."

"Do you harbour a demon?" Kikyou asked, her eyes narrowed. Aerie chuckled.

"Ooh, that's rich. Trisak would love that one. Except not, since it's his Lady you just insulted. No, I harbour no demons, my lady. Kikyou," she said, leaning forward on her branch, "You've always fought your humanity. That's why you cared for Inuyasha at the first, because you both did. Once, you wanted to melt his heart. And your own. You wanted to be free of your burden and be only a woman. You were _right_. I know someone else who fought his humanity. He fought it tooth and nail. And he won." She shook her head. "Except you can't win a battle like that. He killed himself, that day. Killed his hope and his heart.

"Inuyasha was healing, Kikyou, before you came back, and even now…even now, he is coming to accept himself. _All_ of him, except for the bloodthirsty part. He's growing used to the weaknesses and strengths of humans and to the limitations and powers of youkai. He _is_ both of them, and for the first time in his life since his mother died he has people who will allow him to be. Kikyou…." The priestess turned away. "Kikyou."

"I don't care," the dead woman said. "I don't care, do you hear me?"

"Oh, Kikyou," said Aerie sadly. Then she seemed to cast away her sadness and smiled. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I'm Aerie." She bowed from her branch. "I hereby volunteer my services as Inuyasha's bodyguard from all demons, ghosts, and goblins. Make a note of that. You fall under heading B." Kikyou glanced at her, not trusting this change of mood.

"You are strange," she remarked.

"This from a dead woman?"

"You are not of this world," Kikyou added.

"Neither are you," retorted Aerie. Kikyou was silent for a long minute, then she said softly,

"I will think on what you have said." Aerie smiled and clapped her on the shoulder.

"That's all anyone could ask," she said, and then slithered down from the tree and vanished back in the direction of their encampment. Kikyou looked after her for a long time, a solitary figure high in a tree, with silver eels undulating around her.

§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §

When Aerie got back to the tachi, they all looked at her expectantly. She went over to her blanket, picked it up, wrapped it around her shoulders, and sat down beside the fire with a groan.

"Well?" growled Inuyasha when she made no move to speak.

"Eh? Oh. I found her. She wanted to know where you were. I lectured her a little." She seemed distracted.

"What did she say?"

" 'Where is Inuyasha, Why should I be jealous of Kagome, Inuyasha's life is mine, I will not be pitied, If I were selfish, I would have taken him and gone long ago, Be silent, Do you harbour a demon, I don't care, I don't care, do you hear me, You are strange,' and 'I will think on what you have said.' " Recited Aerie in one long breath. Everyone blinked at her. "Uh, she said it all broken up between my little soliloquies," she explained. "You know, after I explained _why_ she might be jealous, she said that Inuyasha's life was hers, after I told him his life was his own she said she would not be pitied, so on." Her brow furrowed. "Actually, I think I might have missed a few sentences of hers, but close enough. She doesn't talk much, does she?"

"So she wants me," Inuyasha said. Kagome looked, as usual, slapped by his obsession with the dead woman. She pulled away from his protective embrace. He didn't seem to notice.

"Unless she was here to kill Kagome, why else would she be hanging around? But she isn't hurt. Perhaps she has information." Aerie shrugged. "Or maybe she's killed Naraku and wants to take you with her now, but I doubt it. She probably would have come in here and rubbed it in Kagome's face, not to mention not sitting around listening to me." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I'll shut up now. She makes me unhappy. Always has. But I suppose she isn't really evil. Just very, very confused. Kinda like Inuyasha trying to kill Kags. Only worse."

"I thought you said you were shutting up?" Inuyasha grumbled. "I'll be back in a minute, Kagome," he promised, turning to her. Startled, she met his eyes. He held her with them for a long moment, and then vanished into the trees.

"That's the first time he's remembered I existed before running off to her," Kagome said softly. Aerie went over to her and gave her a sudden hug.

"You mean a lot to him, Kags. Remember it." She turned away. "I think I have to be alone," she remarked. "I'm in a mood to meddle with things, and I know if I keep at this I'll only become obnoxious." She vanished in the other direction than Inuyasha had.

"She's right, you know, Kagome-chan," Sango said. "He'd die for you in a heartbeat."

"Oh, stop it," Kagome said sadly. "Let's all just go to bed." They went back to bed with a minimum of excitement, after Sango glared Miroku into moving his bedding back to its previous position ten feet from her own. Shippou snuggled down beside Kagome, and soon the clearing was filled with the steady sound of sleepers breathing. Inuyasha reappeared only a few minutes after they were all asleep. He surveyed his friends, not even posting a sentry, so sure that he would be back soon to watch over them that they didn't feel the need to. He leapt into a tree only a few yards above their heads and crossed his arms. Wouldn't want to disappoint them. He wondered where the last, infuriating pack member was.

Aerie wandered through the forest, aware that there were bad things in these woods, but fairly confident that she could take them on – with warning, anyway. And if she shouted, someone would come help her, probably. That was a very nice thing to know. Something grabbed her shoulder. She hadn't even heard it coming! She spun, swinging her fist to connect with whatever it was, opening her mouth to shout.

Then she stifled both blow and cry.

"Trisak!" she said, giving him a quick hug. "You're here! Did everything turn out alright back there?"

"Things are fine," he said, grinning. He was only four feet high, but hovered about a foot off the ground with wide, dragonfly-like wings. Chestnut-brown hair fell in curls over one merry green eye. "It was you I worried about, but now I see I shouldn't. Going to take me on bare-fisted, huh?"

"Don't think I couldn't, pretty boy," she replied with a laugh.

"You couldn't," he assured her. "And, why, I feel so _insulted_! She said I'm _pretty_!"

"Shut up," she directed. "How long can you stay?"

"Only a little while right now – I was just checking up on you," he replied. "But in a few days I should be back, and then I'll be able to stay for a while." Her face fell slightly, but then she shrugged and put on a smile again. "'Kay. I'll see you then. Now, listen. And for heaven's sake don't make a stupid joke?" He paused to consider for a moment.

"Even one about cheese?" He asked. She clouted him over the ear.

"Be serious for two minutes? Kileb's here." The grin fell of his face like melting butter.

"Really?"

"Really. I had to fight him. He's not like he was, obviously, since I _could_ face him down on my own, but he's here." She explained the whole thing, and he rubbed his forehead.

"Wow," he commented. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to run into him. I knew he'd gotten away, but…."

"And you know what the worst part is?" Aerie demanded. "The worst part is that he won't believe I'm me! He just keeps calling me by her name and talking to me like I'm her! I hate it." Trisak smiled at her.

"I don't blame him for getting confused. You sound so much like her sometimes." He told her. She looked away.

"Whatever. It still drives me nuts. So that's all. You can go now."

"Yes ma'am, whatever you say, milady." With a buzz of rainbowed wings he was in the air.

"Don't call me that," she said softly after him. She felt angsty, tragic, and put-upon for about three seconds as she watched his departing figure, and then he smashed into a tree branch and was knocked to the forest floor with a crash. "Klutz!" she shouted at him. He attempted to ignore her with dignity while freeing himself from a large wild rose bush, then flashed her a peace sign and was gone. She headed back to camp, shaking her head. The idiot.

Kagura leaned against a wall in the hallway of the castle. Naraku had sent her away; apparently he was tired of her making comments. Or perhaps it was the way the redhead seemed to keep making a fool of him, and he was tired of her being there for it. After all, the more amusing things she was present for, the harder he would find it to frighten her. She shuddered almost imperceptibly. Kami, how she hated him. One of the few remaining servants who had come with the castle was approaching. A girl. With a plate. What the...

"Kagura-sama," said the serving-girl, offering her some kind of pastry. Food? Since when did the servants bother to feed their demon overlords? She took it without interest and bit in. Her teeth found the object buried in it with a crunch. What was this? She pulled it out. The object flopped absurdly, broken in half and pouring crumbs. It was a fan. There was a fan in her food. One of _her_ fans…. The wind witch glanced at the serving-girl, who was suddenly standing straight, as though she considered herself Kagura's equal. "Kagura," she repeated. "As you can see, I am an excellent thief."

"What-"

"I stole that from you myself." The girl's dark eyes were as blank as Naraku's ever were, though she did not exude the same menace. Simply a wary, slightly complacent regard, like a wolf pack's. Kagura regarded her back from under her heavy lashes.

"And you tell me this…why?" she asked dryly. "Most thieves don't feed the loot to its owner." The girl smiled.

"Because we can use one another's help, Kagura." She said. "I can get your heart for you." Kagura started.

"How-"

"I know everything that goes on here, Kagura Wind-Daughter. You want to be free."

"I _will_ be free." Kagura retorted, before biting her lip. She should not speak so freely under this roof.

"He's talking to Kileb," the young ningen woman assured her. "He's busy. Very. I am Yanagi. Do we have a deal?"

"A deal?" Kagura repeated. Yanagi rolled her eyes.

"A deal. Yah. I steal your heart for you, you get us out of here."

"It won't be that simple."

"Nothing is simple. I have a plan."

"Are you sure they will do as you wish?" Naraku asked, surveying Kileb's new additions to the castle staff.

"Very sure. Are you sure the boy will do as _you_ wish?" Kileb replied. Naraku's nostrils flared.

"Sure enough." The five slave warriors, four new arrivals and Kohaku, stared unblinkingly ahead of them at the other end of the room, awaiting orders. "He does not wish to remember that he killed his family." Kileb nodded.

"Ah, very nice tactics. But I have to ask – why this boy in particular? True, he knows how to swing sharp things around without chopping off his own head, but…."

"His sister walks with Inuyasha," Naraku explained. "She is easily neutralized by mobilizing him."

"Inuyasha," Kileb repeated, "That would be the hanyou, yes? I want another try at him. If the rest of them hadn't shown up when they did, I would have had him where you have the boy." Naraku shot him an envious look.

"How do you do that?" he asked. Kileb flicked his fingers as if dismissing a compliment.

"Centuries of practice. Now come, let us be off," he said, making for the door while doing the Cottoneye Joe.

"Off?" asked Naraku, ignoring the dancing.

"Certainly. Surely you don't want to stay here in this rank hole of yours while they do the legwork." Naraku could not quite say Yes, he did, that was the usual way he did things, so he forewent the kugutsu and followed Kileb out of the 'rank hole.' The beginnings of a smile actually found their way onto his face. This could be very…amusing. Very amusing indeed.

Kileb was singing. Naraku studiously ignored him.

The dawn arrived with a minimum of fanfare from everyone who didn't have combs growing out of their heads. Chanticleer's cries to greet the morning were not heard in the forest where our heroes had bedded down, but they were sufficiently roused by the sound of Inuyasha, who had not slept for three days, falling out of his tree. When everyone had woken up and the muddle of limbs that was Inuyasha and Miroku was sorted out with a minimum of bruises for the houshi, Inuyasha and Aerie were both there. Neither offered any information, and no one asked. The tachi was pretty good like that.

"So where are we going?" Aerie asked Inuyasha once everyone was set.

"We're looking for a landmark," he admitted grudgingly. "I don't know the space around here all that well."

"Now you tell us," she grumbled. "Well, Kaede's village is right where Tokyo is going to be, which means southish, which means…aw, forget it. I don't know what I'm talking about. Do I?" she asked Shippou.

"How'm I supposed to know?" he replied.

"I don't know. How are you?"

"I don't know."

"Well, neither do I."

"STOP IT!" Sango shouted, appearing to fight the impulse to bang her head against a tree. Everyone turned and stared at her.

"Are you quite alright, Sango-sama?" Miroku asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied. "I just have this feeling…well, that something's coming." Everyone thought about that for a moment.

"Well, nothing we can do about it until it comes," Inuyasha declared at last. He turned around. "Let's go." They went. A few minutes after they started walking, Aerie dropped back to walk beside Kagome, who was at the back due to the weight of her immense backpack, which she had not asked Inuyasha to carry today, even though she really couldn't handle it without her bike.

"Kags?" she said hestitantly. Kagome didn't look at her. "Kagome?" Kagome continued to act as if the dirt they were walking over were the most fascinating thing on the planet. "Kagome, look. I know I have about the tact and social grace of a tarantula, but I don't mean any of it badly! I'm sorry if I offended you the other night. Will you please stop giving me the silent treatment?" Kagome at last looked up.

"It's okay," she said, giving a slightly halfhearted smile. Aerie breathed a sigh of relief. She hated it when people were mad at her. "So was there anything you wanted to discuss in particular?" Aerie shrugged.

"Not really, I guess," she admitted. "It's just, I feel like I know you so well, and it would really suck for you to hate me. Well, maybe not hate, because you're so nice I'm not sure you even hate Naraku sometimes, but you know what I mean."

"Modern idiom," Kagome supplied.

"Exactly," Aerie agreed. They shared a smile.

"It's nice having someone from the same century along," Kagome remarked.

"Mm," Aerie said. "I've only been here for eight days, haven't I? It seems like so much longer."

"Mm," Kagome agreed.

"I haven't seen…. I mean…." Aerie trailed off. Saying that she hadn't seen Kagome studying as much as she had expected was probably a bad move, in all kinds of ways. "That is, I always heard that Japanese students were very strict about their studies."

"Well, not everyone is," Kagome cautioned, "But yes. I've got my books in here," she jerked a thumb toward the yellow monster on her back, "But I've been kind of distracted these last few days. It isn't always quite this bad," she added. "I mean, usually Inuyasha doesn't get captured, and we don't get into battles quite that bad all that often. Although Inuyasha does get himself torn up a lot, I suppose."

"Oh, I believe you," Aerie assured her. "But don't think I'm going to get scared away just because you guys are the trouble magnet of the millennium. I've seen worse." Kagome gave her a quizzical look and Aerie suddenly shared Sango's urge toward head-banging. _Baka!_ She thought. Then, _Hang on – I'm _thinking_ in Japanese now?_ She shrugged mentally. Whatever. They walked in silence for a moment. "You know," Aerie remarked, realizing something after a bout of mental calculating, "In two days, it will be my fifteenth birthday. I've been away from home for two hundred eighty seven days." She sounded wistful, and Kagome asked,

"Should we have a party?" The question had the desired effect. Aerie smiled, albeit a little shakily.

"A party. Yeah. That'd…that'd be nice."

Then, suddenly, Kagome felt the strangest presence. She had a sudden image of a hawk in a cage, beating wildly against the bars with its wings, yearning for freedom. She turned toward it to see three people leap from the trees behind the tachi, landing in silent file. She made a small sound of surprise, and that was enough to alert the others.

The newcomers were tall and fair, with hair like cornsilk, and it was impossible to tell their gender. They were dressed identically in long grey tunics and hose, and low grey boots. One bore a strung longbow in his hand. Their faces were nearly identical, with pale skin, and they were very, very empty, and very sad. Their ears had points. They looked like lost souls from across the world and a few centuries past. That, or like a weird cross between Halloween and Christmas decorations.

Inuyasha growled.

"They look like Sesshoumaru," he said. "I don't trust them."

"What sort of youkai are they?" wondered Miroku. Aerie shook her head.

"Not youkai," she said, voice strained. "Faerie. Elves. Fey. Sidhe. Whatever you like. And they're his."

"What?" said Sango.

"I thought they'd rescued them all," Aerie groaned.

"Since you know so much, wench, what are they here for?" Inuyasha demanded. Aerie smiled mirthlessly.

"They're going to kill us, of course."

Mwahahaha! Yes! A cliffie! I'm happy! And although I know I made you wait a long time, I was busy. Sorry. Also, I'm beginning to think I ought to list roleplaying as a vice…. And I once again achieved eight pages, although they aren't as good an eight pages as last time. So feh to all complaints! Heehee, yes, I was a bit hard on Keeks, and I'm not done with her yet, but Aerie has _issues_ with her, see? She did her very best to be nice.

**Kikyou:** Hold it right there::pulls out large scroll and unrolls: You, TrisakAminawn, are hereby arrested on charges of character defamement and being an unformidable opponent.

**TrisakA:** _What!_

**Inuyasha:** Translated, that means because we don't like you and you're a pushover.

**TrisakA:** H-hey! No fair! I'm in charge here, and anyway, I demand the right to summon my bengoshi and remain silent!

**Sango:** We wish!

**Aerie:** Get her!

**TrisakA:** Ah! Aerie! Not you, too::goes angsty: Aerie, why? Why?

**Aerie:** Because you kept claiming I abused you with chainsaws and things, and you stopped speaking to me after I wouldn't do exactly what you wanted in this story. I resent being demoted!

**TrisakA:** I-I'm sorry, Aerie! I didn't mean it that way! Really! C'mon! Be nice::is backed slowly into corner: Come on! Trisak! _Aghenu!_ Somebody!

**Trisak:** Oh, alright, but only if it doesn't involve hurting Aerie or Kagome.

**TrisakA:** Kagome?

**Trisak: **She's nice. She gave me some forsythia.

**TrisakA: **Do they even have forsythia in Japan?

**Entire Angry Character Mob:** SHUT UP AND LET US ARREST YOU!

**TrisakA:** :shaking head: Oh, people, don't make me do this….

**Mob:** GRRRRRR!

**TrisakA:** Hey, that's what my math teacher always says! Anyway…Trisak, get out of the way quick…shazam::uses ultimate Sakusha power:

**Inuyasha:** Shit! I'm a chicken! Bawk!

**Kikyou:** Ah! Not a - Bawk! A chicken! Sakusha girl, this is so demeaning….

**Miroku:** Bawk! But…I wasn't even part of the mob…this isn't fair….

**Shippou:** Whaaaa! I don't like being a chicken! Bawk!

**Aerie:** And on top of - Bawk! That, how are we going to do the next chapter if we're all chickens!

**TrisakA:** Oh, I'm sure I'll have you all back to yourselves on schedule. Or beware::threatening music plays::Exeunt:

**Kileb:** :wanders onstage after everyone else has left, locates baf, and waves at her: See you later! And that's not a threat!


	13. Of BandAids and Bagpipes

6/27/05

Ooookay! I'm back! We're out for the summer at last, exams are done, and that means I can get to work properly. Of course, I just had oral surgery and it hurts like the dickens, but all's well that ends well, yes? Sorry for the wait. Now, I have a problem. The problem is something that I abruptly noticed while rereading a few weeks ago. The problem is that AS FAR AS THIS STORY IS CONCERNED, KIRARA IS STILL IN KILEB'S ABANDONED TOWER! I can't believe that I, my beta, and all of you overlooked this. I love Kirara! So Kirara went in, was misplaced, and never came out, and Sango has not even mentioned it. Sigh. This cannot be left as is, so I'm going to be changing it, but the question is, should I go back and alter it so she did come out and she's been here all along? (Easier now that I've put off the battle scene a couple of chapters.) Or should I change it so Sango's been worried and bring her in later? (My preference.) Please vote. Once you have, I will take it into consideration and edit, inform you, good readers, of the change next chappie, and we'll all pretend it was always like that. Sound good? As I said, I feel really bad about this and by way of making it up….

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to all the cats that have ever owned me. Strong hunter Dinah; her lost sister Mao-se-tung (say it aloud and you'll see why it's a good name for a cat); the luckless Oatmeal; the venerable Beau; poor murdered Jaguar; that lazy rogue Rascal who is now putting scratches in my leg; and milady Mithrandir. Wow, we've had a lot of queens, only toms on that list were Oatmeal and maybe Jaguar. Please advise, Mother, if I left anyone out.

Disclaimer: Takahashi Rumiko-san writes in kanji. I do not. I also cannot hope to mimic her style. This should make it clear that we are not the same person. Right?

Review replies: (Uh, wow, some of these never made it to my e-mail. Huh. And here I thought I was being ignored.)

**NefCanuck:** Thank you kindly, glad you like it, thanks for the encouragement.

**biggest anime fan:** Shokran for such a complimentary review! XD I like Kileb too, in this incarnation. Believe me, in the old days he was really boring…. He's glad you like him, I assure you. Aw, you think so? I'm so glad. I wasn't sure about that scene, but Keeks fascinates me with pity…just like most of the other characters. Why is almost everyone in the inu-verse so pitiable? Heh. Tris rocks! Let it be noted that I said that because he's looking over my shoulder but I might have said it anyway. He's a loony, though::gets bonked: Owch. Yes! CHICKENS! They're all chickens! Anyway, thanks and loveya! I did update, you see? Even though it took me about two months…. Did you get my e-mail?

**Ganheim:** O.O Wow, this is loooong…. You know; the number of quotations you use would give my English teacher fits. She's obsessed with proper use of quotes. OK. You're going to have to open your review to understand this, unless you've got a photographic memory.

Yeah, I know, I almost really dropped into that this chapter. Would you believe it sat there for four weeks trying to be a six-page angsty battle scene? I don't write comedy by nature, this is practice in it, and I _know_ I can't write a story that's just plot and humor. I am trying not to let the characters obscure the story, though! The umlaut was I playing around with the alt-num pad and then remembering I had to write the chapter. Yes, it could, and no, she doesn't. Yes, this is essentially useless dialogue but it will have some point later on. Patience. Same for the entire appearance-of-Kikyou. No, no, remember what Kikyou did to Kags back in book 8? She did it again, and then tried it on Aerie. Hm, guess I should have been more specific there, thanks.

About the paragraphs – I've received formatting advice from baf since I wrote this chapter, on another story, rest assured it won't happen again! (And it's her second language, too! Believe me, it was embarrassing when she told me!) My mother liked that run on, so phooey to you. I haven't seen the anime, and I can't read Japanese, so if I'm missing something keep the bengoshi away from me! I was _talking_ about when they first met! All right, he was threatening more than trying, but whatever! And exactly. She feels like he cares a lot more about Kikyou, at least as far as I've gotten. She doesn't have a privileged audience position. OK, I'll fix that line confusion when I'm on editing. You're right, I don't like that sentence either. I'm morbid and so is she! Other revision recommendations noted. I did so say his hair was red! At least twice! In the tower and when he got to the castle! Why does no one ever remember these things? Happens a lot. Am I too casual about slipping in descriptions or something? O.O ARE YOU INSULTING YANAGI? Look, if you want to insult her, go ahead, but make sense while you're doing it so I can take it into account. Yanagi isn't a coward…. Or are you just trying to make a Wizard of Oz reference? It sounded awfully sarcastic.

I can use Japanese words if it makes me happy! Feh! I KNOW I could use 'group' and 'human' and 'idiot' but this is more fun! Don't be a killjoy! Oooh, did my divider get deleted? Hee, and forsythia, my friend, is a kind of whippy bush with pretty yellow flowers that blooms in late March or early April in upstate New York! Thanks for all the comments on what was funny, and for being so very thorough! I ought to fire my beta, all she ever does is point out two grammar mistakes per chapter…. This is mighty long. Bye!

**Elf.hanyou: **What of yours did I review again? Remind me to check when I'm on a computer that doesn't load one page after about twenty minutes. Well, welcome, and thanks for yours!

**Gem Gamgee:** §? Just that? §? I'm not sure what to think. What is that symbol for, anyway…? Anybody know?

Birds were going slowly silent amid the close-set trees. Midmorning light slanted through them, falling on the leaf-covered forest floor and the silver bark. It lit up the faces of the inu-tachi and made them blink, while it threw the newcomer's faces into shadow and set their pale hair afire, halos of reflected light standing out around their heads. Their flat eyes glinted miserably.

"What do you mean, they're going to kill us!" Inuyasha demanded. "I don't intend to get myself killed by any far-ee things!"

"Fine," Aerie said, "They're going to _try_ to kill us."

"Right," Inuyasha said. "Glad we cleared that up."

"You're welcome."

"Aerie-sama?" Miroku said, "If you know these people, could you make any suggestions as to how best to fight them?" Aerie opened her mouth to answer, and then the fourth elf arrived.

He leapt in over the heads of his comrades, landing in front of them, a naked sword in his hand. He was all in green, and his eyes were the vivid color of oak leaves when they've just unfolded in late April, but otherwise he was much the same as the first three. He darted a glance across them as if checking for the highest head to cut off first. Aerie made a choking sound.

When Miroku saw that she would offer no further council than the choking sound, he called out, "Who are you, strangers? Do you regard us as your enemies?" If the leader's drawn weapon was any indication, they did, but they were also not attacking. The leader gave a jerking nod. It was an odd counterpoint to the grace of his leap. "I don't suppose it would do any good to ask why." Another nod. "Very well, then," the houshi said with a sigh, "Inuyasha?" The hanyou leapt forward readily, his great blade slicing the air.

"Don't!" Aerie shouted. Startled, he pulled up, almost tripping over his own feet.

"Damn it, wench!" he shouted, "Why?"

"Because!" she replied, which wasn't an answer and they all knew it.

"Because what, wench?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Because – because of him!" she pointed at the lead elf, the one with the cold green eyes.

Inuyasha growled in annoyance. "What _about_ him!"

"Lelentaeli…." Aerie said. "Lelentaeli, what has that smiley maniac done to you?" The green-eyed elf made no response. He did not even look at her. "Lelentaeli!" she shouted in a commanding tone. "_Fall out!_" His body started to comply before the order passed through his mind, and then he froze. He assumed his old position with no hint of the chagrin he might be expected to feel. But with no other emotion, either.

"Lelentaeli?" asked Kagome, "Is that his name? You know him?"

Aerie nodded wearily. "I know him," she agreed. She raised her voice. "Lelentaeli, please! Come back! You _can_ do it!" The oak-leaf eyes, when they met hers, were almost totally indifferent. But she thought she caught a flicker of _something…._

"This is a warning," he said in a measured, emotionless voice. "Heed it well."

As his words ended, a blade bit into Inuyasha's back. He cursed, trying to reach it and get it out, but it was lodged in just that bit of back that you never _can_ reach, unless you're very limber, even when it itches. Then the blade tore itself free again, severing further muscles and rendering Inuyasha's left arm unusable due to lack of tendon. Half the tachi had already whirled to face – Kohaku. "While one holds your eyes," Lelentaeli said, "the other attacks from behind."

"Lelentaeli!" Aerie shouted, still facing him, as Sango let out Kohaku's name. "It's about Dishinabi, isn't it? He's using your guilt to control you, just like Naraku with Kohaku!"

The elf's green eyes narrowed slightly, but he said nothing. He really did resemble Sesshoumaru, Aerie found herself thinking, like this. Even normally, come to that, especially if he had his warrior-face on. But her friend looked different, he really did, usually you _could_ see an emptiness, of loss, behind his eyes, but not this…_blankness._ "Snap out of it!" she growled, vaguely aware of the rest of the tachi focussing on Kohaku. Sango had gotten slightly sliced on her upper arm, but Kohaku had apparently balked at actually killing her. They had their own problem to worry about, she wasn't part of it, and they weren't really part of this. Except that their stories were getting mixed up, now…. But she wasn't in a story! They were, though, she wondered vaguely about the ramifications of her presence on the manga and this world's connection to it. Either she was in the manga, or Takahashi was no longer writing the same story as the one occurring here. This was no time for this, she was only trying to avoid thinking about the current situation. She hated it when her brain did that to her. "Lelentaeli!" she called, as if he was eight miles away and hard of hearing. He took a step back, his gaze flitting away from her, resting on that spot just beyond the elbow where gazes rest when people don't want to look at other people.

"Leave me alone," he said.

And then they slipped away, all four, from under Aerie's eyes. Kagura dropped down, swooped Kohaku onto her feather even as Sango attempted to reason with him, and he was gone as well.

"This is bad," Aerie said, looking after their vanished guests, as Miroku got himself thumped for offering to look after Sango's small wound.

"What in particular are you referring to?" he asked Aerie, picking himself up.

"Kohaku, Kagura, and those four were working together," she said slowly, "which must mean that their respective masters have teamed up, too."

"You mean, Naraku and Kileb?" he replied. "Oh, no. That does not make me feel optimistic."

Aerie nodded. "Nor me," she agreed. Inuyasha broke into some snarled obscenity at the thought of having to deal with Naraku _and _the guy who had done weird things to his mind at the same time. Kagome sat him.

He hit the ground, the tails of his haori flopping upward in an undignified fashion to cover the top half of his body. "I have the right to swear this time!" he protested, raising his head, complete with veil-like headgear of red. "That bastard's the one who _made_ me stop!"

"You shouldn't swear anyway," Kagome replied. "If it didn't come with erasing anything that resembles your mind, I'd wish you stayed like that. At least you had some manners!"

Inuyasha sat up. "Feh," he growled, stung, "I should have gone with Kikyou when she asked me."

The scene froze. Inuyasha was cursing himself for letting that slip, Kagome was in shock that he had been asked to go with Kikyou and stayed, and the three present who followed their relationship like a sporting event were floored that Inuyasha had actually used _Kikyou_ as a weapon. Not Kagome's relationship to her, but the woman herself. He never did that. There were some things that were too important to use as casual barbs….

"She what?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha glowered at the ground. "Asked me to go with her. Not…_permanently_, just come travel with her instead of you guys."

"And you didn't?" Kagome asked.

"Stop looking at me like that!" he directed both Kagome and their audience. "You guys need me. Practically every day I save your butts. She doesn't. That's all." There was a silence. "Feh." Inuyasha said. He turned his back and inadvertently presented everyone with a clear view of his wound, which was still bleeding freely and allowing for a very good lesson in the internal anatomy of the inu hanyou, due to the loss of a large amount of skin.

"Eeeee!" Kagome exclaimed, running forward. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha, I shouldn't have sat you while you're sliced up like that…"

"What, this?" Inuyasha asked. "Just a scratch."

"Inuyasha," Miroku said, amused, "Unfortunately, I must inform you that I can see the muscles in the middle of your back, and _not_ because they are well defined. I can see them because your skin is no longer in the way."

"You do realize that if you'd said that to a girl it would have managed to sound pervy, right, Miroku-dono?" Aerie asked, bringing herself back to earth. Not her earth, but she supposed it still had legitimacy as an earth. Somehow, multidimensional questions were less fun to ponder when you had an unnervingly good chance of finding out the answers at some point in the future.

"Uh…." Miroku said. Remarkably inarticulate for him. Kagome busied herself with trying to get Inuyasha to let her bandage him, because she had a huge fondness for bandages. She insisted on putting Band-Aids on little scrapes! Well, admittedly, Band-Aids weren't much good for anything but little scrapes, but you didn't need one _every time_ your skin was slightly punctured!

Now she was trying to stereotype Kags as a popular airhead again, Aerie realized. But that really wasn't fair. If they'd met in either of their normal worlds they would probably have passed each other without a glance, admittedly. But it wasn't as if Kags was the sort of person who went out of her way to trod on social retards. She was just…naturally lovable. And therefore well liked. And she wasn't stupid, either, just relentlessly innocent, and not a coward, just a habitual screamer. Aerie sighed. Everybody had many levels, and the sad fact was she had probably scorned many a decent human being for their same resemblance to a certain, malicious type of girl. Unfair, but there it was.

Aerie stretched. Her back ached, her friend was under the control of his and her greatest enemy, she was hungry, her clothes hadn't been washed in three weeks, her most powerful companion at the moment lacked the use of one arm, and she didn't have a sword. Ah, the romantic life of the wanderer!

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"Well, that went well," Kileb remarked from the bushes where he and Naraku were sitting and watching the events unfold. The bushes had berries on. Bright red ones. Kileb was eating them like popcorn at a movie. This rather disconcerted Naraku, since he was more or less certain that these particular berries were highly toxic. He cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you entirely sure about this approach?" he asked.

"Who's ever sure?" Kileb asked airily. "But there's really not much fun in just getting rid of them. One has to be creative about it." Naraku shrugged. This sounded like Kileb's version of his own belief that there was no point to wiping someone out unless they suffered in the process. "Well, the stage has been well-set," Kileb remarked, then clapped his hands together in a gesture of eureka. If he had been native to another century, Naraku might have looked up to see whether a lightbulb had appeared over his head. "That's it! Your name!"

Naraku felt a sense of impending doom. The redhead was going to pull some new humiliation out of his wide green sleeves. He knew it. He was not disappointed. "Meanings! I knew there was one I was forgetting! Such an impressive, threatening name, Naraku. Abyss…hell…theatre basement…." Naraku restrained a groan. Barely. His hand met his forehead with a ringing slap, which he immediately regretted.

He was right to.

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Aerie spun when she heard the slap. "What?" she said, staring at the bushes. "Oi, Sango-sama, Miroku-dono," she called, since they weren't involved in bandaging operations. "Gimmee a hand with this bush."

"With the bush?" Miroku asked, obediently coming.

"Well, more specifically, with what's _in_ it," Aerie admitted. "Lend me that, Sango?" She took Sango's boomerang and swung it, clumsily, not letting go of it. It sheered the top off the bush very neatly, revealing Naraku and Kileb both ducking to avoid decapitation. They leapt upright and backward. Naraku was unreadable under his baboon skin. Kileb gave the tachi a lazy wave, like a celebrity to his fan club, before grabbing Naraku by the shoulder and dragging him away, escaping before Inuyasha could draw his sword, Sango could get Hiraikotsu back, or Aerie could call up any fire. Especially the last. He was not very strong right now, he'd just finished binding that stubborn elf a matter of hours ago, after keeping him imprisoned for months. Bother. Couldn't face the Lady. How ruddy embarrassing. New topic!

The entire tachi heard him say clearly, as he and Naraku vanished into the trees, "So, can you really play the bagpipes?"

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"…the bagpipes?" Aerie repeated blankly, looking after the fleeing duo. She turned to give a freaked-out/baffled/amused look at Kagome, who gave her one back. The other four stuck with baffled.

"What are bagpipes?" Shippou asked.

"They're an instrument," Aerie explained, "a bag, that is held under the arm and squeezed, with keys on it that you push, and pipes coming out of the top that you blow on. I think. I've never tried to play a set. They look really funny. So does anyone who's playing them. At least, if you're not used to it."

"Oh," said Shippou. He giggled. "I wonder if Naraku really _can_ play them?"

Aerie and Kagome both chuckled at the image. "I don't know," Aerie replied cheerfully. "If he can, I don't think he ever would. Not where anyone could see or hear him. Bagpipes are something of an acquired taste."

"Well, let's get moving," Inuyasha interjected. "We barely got anywhere before they showed up."

"Are you sure you should travel with that wound of yours, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

"It'll be fine, monk. If we get into any scrambles, just don't expect me to jump as much as I usually do," he admitted reluctantly. Everyone nodded; jumping could jar his body, reopen the wound, and lengthen the time it would take for his left arm to be functional again.

"Speaking of which," said Aerie as Kagome got her backpack and they made ready to leave, "how's that spear wound Kileb gave you doing?"

"Almost gone," Inuyasha grunted. Aerie winced. His back was not doing so well lately.

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"It's not hard, Kagura," Yanagi said. Kagura had dropped Kohaku off with Kanna and gone with the slim servant, who had been waiting for her when she arrived. "You're already good at moving silently, and you have the added advantage of not being an urchin who would be expected to steal something. Now, we'll try this again." She turned her back on the taller woman. "Pick my pocket."

Kagura walked up behind Yanagi casually enough, not as if she was stalking her – she'd gotten that part down now – but flubbed when it came to the part about getting the little purse out of her sash rapidly and gently. She tugged.

"No, no, no!" Yanagi said, barely keeping her calm teacher-face on. "Now, we're going to have to practice until you remember. Don't yank it out. Extract it so I'd never know."

"Why don't you just do this yourself?" Kagura grumbled, and realized she was grumbling, and felt young and foolish.

Yanagi sighed. "Because it's more than my life's worth to go near Naraku. Everyone who's done so has died rather rapidly. In the early days, while he was still pretending to be Kagewaki, that was one thing, people hung around him for weeks and lived, but now he just lops us up any which way. Before I can get your heart, I need this setup, and I won't survive to do so much as set the scheme in motion if I try to be the one to pull off this theft. And if I'm dead, I can't accomplish the other one, can I?" She meant Kagura's heart.

"Fine," said Kagura, pulling herself together again. "Now, demonstrate the _right_ way to pull something out of a pocket again?"

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Aerie approached Kagome, who was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. They had settled down for the evening round about sunset, after an uneventful day of hiking. "H-hey, Kags?" she said.

Kagome opened one eye. "Yes?"

"You know that conversation we had this morning, about school work?"

"We did touch on that, yeah," Kagome agreed.

"We-ell, I've been gone a long time and I'm a really be a long way behind my class and when I do get home I'm going to be even further behind and I don't really know what will happen but especially in chemistry I may have to take the course over." Aerie rattled out, doing cruel things to the common comma.

"So you'd like me to help you?" Kagome asked.

"If it's not too much trouble, yeah," Aerie agreed, "I know Japanese schools are better than ours about getting information into people's heads, so even though you _have_ been missing a lot of school…."

Kagome smiled and shrugged, ignoring Aerie's social incompetence with the ease of someone who spent a lot of time with Inuyasha. "I'll help you. It's not as if I was going to get any studying done tonight anyway."

"Thanks," Aerie said, smiling in relief. Kagome opened her backpack and dug through it, looking for her schoolbooks. When she'd gotten them out, she and Aerie sorted them by subject and Aerie boggled momentarily at the sheer volume. "This is…a lot of books to carry around, Kags," she observed.

"I'm stronger than I look," Kagome replied, extracting a piece of math homework from her math book and frowning at it. "You know, I think I see what I did wrong in this equation…." She put the paper down for a moment, to search through her bag for a pencil. As soon as she did, a chicken, which had wandered into the camp without being noticed, promptly picked it up and fluttered away with it. "Hey!" Kagome cried, jumping up and racing after it. She pursued the chicken around the glade they had chosen to camp in, it always only a little way ahead, changing direction without warning and every so often fluttering a few feet before its almost-bred-away wings gave out and it had to land again. "Come on, mister chicken! Give me back my math!"

"That's a female," Inuyasha remarked from his post just a few feet behind Kagome and Aerie's schoolwork setup. Aerie was laughing too hard to go to Kagome's aid, and Inuyasha did not seem to see the need.

"Huh?" Aerie said, looking over her shoulder at him, swallowing her mirth somewhat.

"It's a female." Inuyasha repeated. "A hen, not a rooster. Cocks have combs on their heads." Aerie still looked confused and he added bad-temperedly, "She called it mister chicken."

"Oh," said Aerie, with an exaggerated expression of enlightenment. "Yeah, I know that about chickens, but I didn't know why you were saying it. Well, she's a city girl. Can't be expected to think about that kind of thing. How do _you_ know it?"

"Mother kept chickens," he explained concisely. She nodded and didn't press, picking up one of Kagome's textbooks and opening it. It was written in kanji, which should have come as no surprise. It made no sense to her, which probably shouldn't have surprised her but did. She stared at it.

"Well, that's Greek to me," she remarked. "Or, actually, Japanese, hah-hah."

"What?" Inuyasha asked, looking over her shoulder. He raised his eyebrows. "You can't _read?_"

"I can't read _Japanese!_" she corrected. "I can read just _fine_ in English! Look!" She snatched up a sheet of paper from Kagome's binder and the forgotten pencil and scrawled _'Inuyasha is an ignorant, arrogant, two-timing freak' _across it.

"That's an awful lot of letters," he observed, "but you used the same ones a lot. How many do you know?"

"Twenty-six," she replied snippily.

He laughed. "_Twenty-six?_ You might as well be illiterate. What can you write with twenty-six characters?"

"Anything!" she snapped. "There are only twenty-six letters in the Roman alphabet! It's _phonetic!_"

"Feh. Whatever," said Inuyasha, pleased to have gotten a rise out of her.

"Rrrg," she muttered. "Starting now, I despise pictograms."

"What's going on over here?" Kagome asked, having recovered her math homework with the help of the houshi. The chicken was being fed breadcrumbs by Shippou.

"_He_ doesn't believe I can write! Here, do you take a Western language at school? Tell him this alphabet exists!" She thrust the paper at Kagome, pausing to think too late that if Kagome knew English that was not a good idea. But she only glanced at it and nodded.

"Yes, it exists. I hear it's pretty easy to learn, because it's short, but that it doesn't follow any rules very well."

"More or less," Aerie agreed. "Kagome, would it be to much to ask…?"

"Of course not. I'll catch you up. Right, where had you left off in chemistry?" The two girls started talking school talk, sometimes somewhat hampered by confusions of technical vocabulary, but pretty soon they were knee-deep in chem equations.

"But that compound -" Aerie was saying two hours later, peering at the equation by firelight. She broke off as Kagome vanished.

"Oi," said Inuyasha, dangling from the tree and holding Kagome by the collar, "wenches. Time to sleep, or you'll be useless tomorrow."

"Put me down, Inuyasha," Kagome ordered. "What time is it?"

"Three hours since sunset," the hanyou replied. "Bed."

"You're right." Kagome agreed with a yawn. "Bed. Now let me go."

He set her carefully down and she and Aerie began to tidy up.

Someone was watching. They smiled. This was going to be just too easy.

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Heh-heh. Sudden and unexpected 'suspense,' such as it is, after a load of silliness. How's that? Yes, Yanagi has a plan and it involves Kagura learning how to pick pockets. Yes, Kileb is driving Naraku around the bend. Yes, Aerie and Lelentaeli know each other, anyone who remembered him from chapter 7, gets major cookies. And no, there is nothing remotely romantic going on there. Had to put that in because my beta commented. Tell me if you think I'm racking up too many characters. This is the full cast, I promise. I'm even leaving Fluffy-sama out because I know what happens when you clutter the story, and the plot really _doesn't_ need him…. Anyway –

**Kikyou:** Hey! Sakusha! _Why_ am I still – bawk! – a chicken?

**TrisakA:** Because I didn't need you for this chapter.

**Kikyou:** Do I have to stay a chicken until my next – bawk! – appearance?

**TrisakA:** Hmm…no. Shazam. You're an undead miko again. Happy? Now let me handle the active characters….

**Naraku:** I would like to protest!

**TrisakA: **What is it, Kagewaki?

**Naraku:** I'm not Kagewaki!

**TrisakA: **Well, you look like him! Fine, _Theatre Basement_, what do you want?

**Naraku:** That's just it! I'm the villain here! I protest being degraded like this!

**Kileb:** Oh, come now, Naraku, am I really that much trouble?

**Naraku:** Yes.

**Kileb: **Oh…. Hi, baf! Be nice to me, Naraku has hurt my feelings….

**baf:** Huh? I'm in an author's note? And it's not my author's note?

**TrisakA:** Uh-huh! Hi! Welcome! Can you keep him busy for a minute while I deal with Kagewaki here?

**Naraku:** I told you, I'm not Kagewaki! And he's getting on my last nerve.

**TrisakA:** I'm afraid you're just going to have to live with it, mister. Look, if it will make you shut up, I promise to write a story all about you some time and have him not be in it, fair?

**Naraku:** I get a story? Interesting idea….

**TrisakA:** Good. Now, let's move on.

**Kagome:** :enters, carrying chicken: Sakusha-sama, we can't figure out who this chicken is.

**TrisakA:** Who it is? Yike, I thought I'd turned everybody back now. Hello, chicken, who are you?

**Chicken:** Bawk!

**TrisakA:** No, come on, tell me, who are you, so I can change you back?

Twenty minutes and a lot of cajoling later….

**TrisakA: **Hang on…is this the chicken that stole your homework in the chapter, Kagome?

**Kagome:** Yes.

**TrisakA:** Then it's just a chicken! I just spent twenty minutes trying to get a chicken to tell me its name::is wreathed in flames:

**Kagome: **Uh, sorry ma'am::flees:

**TrisakA:** OK, who set this one up!


	14. Of Stasis and Serenades

**Author's Note:** Quick note here - 'Stasis' means unchanging state, so when Aerie puts on a stasis it means she froze whatever she put it on, sans ice. In ancient Greek, _stasis_ means civil war, and in modern Greek it means bus stop, but I don't write in either of these, so Aerie is not applying either a civil war or a bus stop.

**Disclaimer:** That which I own includes numerous characters and storylines of my own, the exclusive right to use Trisak and Aerie in stories even if I don't _own _them, a green dress that looks like a sack that I sewed the other day, a chipped crystal decanter, a bag of hula skirts, and many elusive pencils. It does not extend to any copyrights whatsoever and certainly not to ownership of the Inu-tachi. I have said this and so may not be sued if Takahashi ever gets it into her head to do so. Does anyone think she actually reads fanfic?

**NefCanuck: **I was kind of thinking she didn't know English…. But yeah, whichever, Aerie was lucky. You seem to agree with everyone else, and so the consensus is, Kirara's here and has been.

**medlii:** Hee. Missed chapter twelve? Thank you! I'm glad it's funny! It's a newly discovered skill. Yes, not good at all. Kileb has a penchant for world conquest, which it is to be hoped Naraku won't be picking up, eh? The elves weren't all in chapter seven, Lel just appeared in Aerie's flashback. Bwahaha, chicken ate my homework! I know it's bad form to laugh at your own joke, but I get a kick out of that chicken.

**biggest anime fan:** Know you won't get to read this right away, what with the internet down and all, but that's OK! Heehee, I've been drawing Kileb lately…too bad our scanner doesn't work. Oh well. It wasn't this chappie I said was boring, it was ch. 4 of Sam's story…which has actually improved, although it's all about Ro and thus in a different style than the last three mostly were…. I'll send it to you when your e-mail's back up. Anyway! Hee. Yeppers, you're in the author's note! And I think you're staying. Awww, yes, I like it when he takes care of her like that. So sweet.

Kileb: Um, I like you too. Hi. Will you buy me something to eat? I'll buy next time, after I've conquered somewhere and have something to buy food with. Promise! charming smile

Ahem. By the way, I'm afraid he's going to go on being evil in the story even though you like him. When the plot calls for him to do really mean things, he's going to do them…. Anyway. Don't feel stupid about not remembering Lel, it was a really teensy appearance. Not even really an appearance. He's the one who was trying to smooth over the blown-up pub thing in Aerie's flashback. Thanks for all the compliments! Pshaw, I'm really _not_ all that good! I'm not! blushness

**Ear-Tweak:** Oh, I did? Sorry I forgot. Thank you, come again! Sorry this took so long!

**Ganheim:** I know, I know, I was just kidding. My English teacher is a bear about proper usage of quotations, so it just came to me. Otherwise: OK, the consensus is that Kirara is here. Sorry, I've abandoned you, haven't I? I'm sorry, I'm just lazy, and reading your chapters is such a lot of work, because they're so long and I have to keep going back and rereading things to make sure I understand them. XD Forsythia. Yes, I know, when people use words badly, whatever language they're in, it's positively painful. I feel your pain. But I like these words, they feel more specific than the translated versions. OK, thanks. And I didn't really mean to fire my beta, she may not notice much, but it would be mean to fire her. Hasta luego!

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"No, I do _not_ want you to have a look at it!" Inuyasha's frustrated shout rang through the woods, making this the second day in a row that the inu-tachi were connected with the silencing of birds. The chicken, which had decided to adopt them, flutter-hopped onto his head and he shook it off with a snarl.

"Ok, ok!" Aerie replied, "I just thought maybe I could give you a hand with it! I'm not all that secure with you being one-armed and all."

"Sesshoumaru manages well enough with only one arm, Aerie-sama," Miroku pointed out, scattering the coals and kicking earth over the remains of the fire.

"True," Aerie agreed, electing to give up on Inuyasha and moving to Miroku's side, "he does. And it isn't like Inu-kun is left-handed, so that's alright, he can still fight."

Miroku blinked at her and her hand went to her mouth, immediately realizing her own slip of the tongue.

"What did you call me!" Inuyasha demanded.

Aerie retreated, hands in the air, knowing she had made a mistake. "Nothing! I mean, it wasn't important! It's just something we used to call you. It's meant to be a term of affection!"

Inuyasha leaned close to her, glaring her full in the face as if searching her soul, then turned away, folding his arms. "Keh."

"Whew," Aerie breathed, sitting down very abruptly on the grassy side of a hillock.

"Aerie-sama…" Miroku said, "you do know that 'kun' is usually a superior-to-inferior form, don't you?"

"Yes," she admitted, "it just slipped out. We used to call him that when we were talking about you guys. It really was meant as a term of affection, like with good friends. Even if we aren't, really. In Kagome's and my time, it's used among male students." She felt the houshi's sharp eye on her, and knew he was going to say 'we?' any second now, and press her to explain with whom she used to discuss Inuyasha. "While we're on the subject of honorifics," she said hurriedly, "about the 'sama.' You really don't need it, just call me by my name? It reminds me too much of…of someone else." Of the way Trisak used to 'milady' her every other sentence. Before she was a person in her own right to him.

"Very well," said Miroku, making the decision not to pry for the moment. He sat down beside her with his staff leaning on his shoulder, staring off into the distance with the vague look he usually got when he was being patriarchal. "Aerie. Someday, I hope, you will trust us enough to tell us the whole truth."

Aerie bit her lip. "It isn't really about trust, Miroku-dono," she said, "it's just…well, it's a lot of things, really. There are other people's stories that aren't mine to tell, and I'm afraid telling you would make you see me differently, and I don't know if I'll be believed, and," she flashed a grin and swept her hair back, "I want to preserve my aura of mystery."

"I still hope you will tell us some day," Miroku replied with a smile, standing. He paused and looked over his shoulder at her. "And if you are simply Aerie, then I must be Miroku."

"Alright, Miroku," she said, "and, you know…." He cocked his head, waiting. "If you treated Sango like you treat me – you know, like a, a friend? – I think you'd get along loads better."

Miroku stared at her until she flushed and looked away. "Look, I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I just hate seeing you two miss each other in the dark because of that stupid habit of yours. Forget I said anything. It's none of my business." She got up and went to help Kagome with her backpack. Perfect. She'd managed to be rude to both the grown guys in the party before they'd even gotten moving. She thought she'd hang with Shippou and Kirara and the chicken today. They were much easier to get on with.

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"Why did you flee?" Naraku asked Kileb for the thousandth time.

"I told you, Theatre Basement," Kileb replied, looking up from the lanyard he was plaiting, "I'm not ready for a head-on conflict again yet. The girl set me back several months last time I encountered her, and the time before that with the help of an army she spoiled the work of centuries. Very annoying." He gave an engaging smile and put his head to one side, as if to indicate that even the annoyingness of having had several centuries of work destroyed was not enough to put him in bad temper or damage his judgment.

"I see," said Naraku.

Kileb nodded, tying off his latest little project and then holding it up and peering at it as if wondering what in the world to do with a lanyard now he had one. "It's what they call a tactical withdrawal. But now we need to advance the next step."

"An attack, you mean." Naraku said calmly. He was glad the discussion was on relevant topics now. Having been nagged for two hours to demonstrate his ability to play the bagpipes after their 'tactical withdrawal' had not improved his temper.

He looked over at Kagura, lingering by the door. "You may go," he directed, tired of having her here listening to the conversation. He wished he'd never so much as heard of Kileb, especially when he was calling him Theatre Basement and trying to persuade him to give a bagpipe concert and _singing_. Gods, that singing. Off and on and usually quite quiet and cheerful, but so annoying. Of course, if you listened to the lyrics you got a whole new layer of confusion. Sometimes he was singing cheerful little numbers about the sky or young love or something else like that, and sometimes they celebrated death and destruction and the loneliness of someone who has had everything that means anything to them carefully and artfully stripped away. And both were treated with exactly the same sort of glee.

Kagura left as she had been told, and Kileb called after her, "and send Lelentaeli in if you see him."

"Did you get it?" Yanagi asked Kagura as the latter emerged. She had been waiting in the hallway, scrubbing the floor anytime someone happened to look but drawing out the job as long as she could. They went to the first bend in the hallway before they talked anymore. Doors are not wholly efficient sound barriers.

"Yes, to my surprise," Kagura replied. She held up the key that she had stolen from the distracted Naraku earlier that day. He was distracted because of his flaming haired ally, who since reducing Rani to bloody fragments had been vague and odd and polite to everyone he met. They, of course, were all scrupulously polite to him. No one forgot how dangerous he was, even when he was invading the kitchen and giving Yuriko, the cook, advice about spices.

"Well done," Yanagi said, taking the key. "You shouldn't be surprised. I train a good pickpocket, and he'd hardly have been expecting you to take this."

Kagura regarded the key, which Yanagi had described to her by its matching of the lock on the door they planned to open. However it had been that the girl had both known about the door and gotten a good look at its lock. She was growing used to Yanagi knowing everything. "Are you sure this is the right one?"

Yanagi nodded. "Positive. This is the only new key for the only new lock. Trust me. I know this castle like I know my own heart." Kagura winced inwardly , and Yanagi closed her eyes for a moment. The wind's sister was her ally. There was no point to alienating her. "Let's go," she said. "Kanna?"

"On the other side of the castle," Kagura replied, utilizing her ability to locate any of her 'siblings' instantaneously. "Upstairs. No threat."

"Right," Yanagi said. A girl, younger than herself, in a purple kimono, came around the corner. Her eyes were wide and nervous but her expression was set. "Ah, Kyoko, good. Take over this floor and run for it if they come out." She clapped Kyoko on the shoulder. "You're a brave woman, Kyoko. Thank you." Kyoko smiled back and bent to pick up the brush and pail. She had a dangerous task for which Yanagi had requested volunteers rather than demanding it of anyone, and she was proud to have received four of them. She had chosen Kyoko for her speed and skill at getting away quickly. Yanagi was beginning to worry, though. Her pack was handpicked, and success depended on smooth operation, but there was contention arising. They were splitting on the issue of Kagura. Some resented her for having used the bodies of their dead in her Dance of the Dead, while others agreed with Yanagi that she was more fellow prisoner than oppressor. Yanagi shook her head. Back to work. "Kyoko will tell Amarante, who will run for us and tell us that Naraku's not in his room anymore, and we'll try to finish up fast just in case." She told Kagura. "We won't be caught." And, Kagura flabbergasted at what they were doing, they invaded Naraku's private sub-dungeon chamber. "Faugh," Yanagi said, lighting her torch, as she reached the bottom of the ladder, "this place reeks."

"You'll hear no arguments from me," Kagura replied, slipping down beside her, her bare feet under her long kimono hitting the ground silently. The place was not as bad as it had been on her first visit, full of the grotesque form of the disempowered Naraku, but it was hardly a treat to breathe the air down here, either.

Yanagi rubbed her hands together. "Alright. Let's get cracking."

"Are you sure about this approach, willow-girl?" the youkai-hanyou-windwitch-whatever (and you'd better believe it gave her headaches trying to figure out how she was suppose to be classified) asked.

"Quite sure, wind-woman," Yanagi replied. "Do you have a better plan?"

Kagura shook her head. "No. Let us begin."

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Lelentaeli walked down the hallway toward the chamber he had been instructed to return to at this time. Actually, walked does not do justice to the way he moved. He looked as though someone had glued a ramrod to his spine and told him that making any noise at all was punishable by death. He passed a girl in purple scrubbing the floor and when she looked up at him gave her a faint smile and then looked away quickly, as if ready to deny ever having done it. He knocked sharply on the door to Naraku's chamber.

"Ah, Lelentaeli, come in!" called Kileb. "I see that Kagura did not find you, but you are here in good time, as always."

Lelentaeli entered and bowed. "Orders?" he said woodenly.

Kileb smiled. "Very good," he said. "Here for your orders. Very well. These are your orders." He dictated them. Lelentaeli bowed, said, 'It shall be done,' and departed. Kileb looked fondly after him. "Look at him. You'd never guess he spent three hundred years despising me." The smugness of one who has his enemy doing his bidding was just evident in his tone, along with something that sounded like almost fatherly pride.

"How do _you _do it?" Naraku asked. He knew how he had gotten hold of Kohaku, but that hinged partially on Kohaku not knowing that Naraku had done anything to hate him for. If he could get such a performance out of _Inuyasha,_ now….

"A little bit of fear, a little bit of hope, a little bit of self-hatred, and a lot of pain," Kileb replied. "And a pinch of cinnamon."

It may or may not be of interest to you that he was, in fact, telling the truth about the cinnamon.

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Inuyasha and Kagome had a fight over something or other around noon. It began with the chicken's fondness for Inuyasha's head and his desire to wring its neck and have it for dinner, but it didn't stay there. They said a great variety of things they did not really mean. Inuyasha did not bring up Kikyou this time. Kagome bitterly resented the fact that she could not go home in a huff because they didn't know where they were. She was exhausted. She had lost a lot of sleep staying up with Aerie, and Inuyasha could carry neither her nor her bag with practically no skin on his back. She fell back to walk with Sango, who was allowing Inuyasha to lead. They were still lost. Inuyasha appeared to be operating on the theory that if they kept going in the same direction long enough, they would bump into something they recognized.

This theory had not yet produced results near dusk, when they encountered a spider-youkai, a tsuchigumo, to be precise, with a shard of the shikon no tama. It was the first battle for a shard they had had in a while, and it was rather a surprise to find another so soon after having gotten that one from Rath-tama. Shikon no kakera were growing few and far between.

"There can't be many left," Sango remarked, petting Kirara's head as they sat about a fire after the battle. The chicken was sitting between Shippou and Aerie on the far side of the fire from Inuyasha, having finally learned its lesson. It was too late to go on, although the spider had been an easy opponent. Inuyasha had not even bothered to draw Tetsusaiga, just delivered the killing blow with his claws after Sango's boomerang had crippled the immense thing with a special fury. It was entirely too much like the spider Naraku had used to draw her family to his castle. "Shards," she clarified now, "can't be many shards of the jewel left out there. This could even be the last one in circulation."

Everyone looked at the little crystalline bit of danger contemplatively. "Well, if that's so, so much the better," Miroku commented, "no more villages will be drawn into this mess."

"Yes," Kagome agreed. "That's one good thing."

Aerie nodded slowly. _Do you feel responsible, Kagome?_ She almost asked. _For the people who get hurt because of the shards your arrow spread over this island? _But she kept her mouth shut. She was very proud of herself. She grinned.

"What are you smirking about?" Inuyasha demanded. She had tripped, bumped into his back hard, and caused him to yelp in a thoroughly undignified manner midafternoon, and he was still mad at her.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, his bad mood sliding off her like water off a duck, "just thinking. Inuyasha," she said slowly, addressing him as if he were a rare species of butterfly or moss that she had unexpectedly discovered in her lunch pail, "I'm afraid I'm going to be forever asking you questions. Hanging around you lot is too good an opportunity to pass up."

"What is it _this_ time?" Inuyasha groused. He was growing used to her. Probably too used to her.

Aerie was pecked by the chicken and stuck her tongue out at it. "Catch me feeding _you_ any more crumbs," she told it, before looking back at Inuyasha. "Just assuming this is the last freelance shard, beating Kouga and Naraku for their bits is all that's left in the way of getting the whole thing put together. Once that's done – what will you do?"

A silence descended. No one had asked Inuyasha that for a good while now. Everyone wanted to hear the answer. He was stonily silent, glaring into the coals. You could _just_ make out that he was pondering ferociously, and not hypnotized, if you looked closely. "Because you won't become human, of course." Aerie said, when she deemed he'd had long enough to think, "Your reason for doing that is gone. And personally I don't think you could have survived a settled life anyway, you probably would have lost your marbles. But using it to become a full demon…. I doubt that's what you want anymore. For plenty of reasons. You'd have to get it away from Kagome, for starters. And then there's that whole bloodthirstiness thing…" She shut up and got pecked by the chicken again. Quit while you were ahead.

"I don't know," Inuyasha admitted gruffly, through his teeth. "I don't know what I want. Good enough for you, miss nose?"

"You should think about it, then," said Aerie serenely, tossing her hair.

Inuyasha scowled and tucked his fists into his sleeves. "Keh. Like it makes any difference without the whole Jewel anyway."

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The watcher nodded slowly, a grin stealing across his face. All right, this he had to get in on. This was going to be almost as easy as the original point of all this, and a load of fun. She still didn't know he was here. Getting slow these days, eh? He settled back on his heels to wait for them to go to sleep.

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Aerie woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling of potentiality. Power was building up for something…something that had to do with wishes…. That's funny, she thought, it feels like it's coming from over by Inuyasha…. I wonder what he could possibly be doing at this time of night….

"Sproinkle," said Inuyasha distinctly, obviously asleep. She couldn't see him saying anything along the lines of 'sproinkle' otherwise. She wondered what he was dreaming.

She sat bolt upright.

Inuyasha was asleep, and there was a huge potentiality building around him. Either he was having one heck of a powerful dream – unlikely for several reasons, 'sproinkle' not the least – or something was taking advantage of the fact that he was asleep. He wouldn't even be able to tell that there was power swirling around him. Now that she was properly awake she couldn't feel it either, actually. It was just in the receptive in-between state of half-wakeful-ness that she'd been tuned to the right mental station. Still, her eyes were open now, and there was no mistaking that there was a figure bending over Inuyasha where he was asleep on the far side of the darkened clearing.

"Hey!" she protested. People didn't go around bending over people she was travelling with and doing funny things to them without so much as a by-your-leave! She hurled the first and second things which came to mind at the far side of the clearing, the first being a big rock and the second being a strong stasis, intended to freeze the nightcreeper in his or her tracks.

Inuyasha wound up being the victim of both. The lithe little figure beside him turned, tearing through the stasis as if it wasn't there, and the rock just plain missed and hit Inuyasha hard on the chest, waking him up. Before he had time to do anything but let out one loud curse, the stasis hit him, and he went rigid, staring helplessly at the sky with his eyes thrown wide.

_OK, that was the bungled rescue attempt of the decade,_ Aerie admitted to herself privately, as she jumped up to face the intruder. She was mentally running through good, sturdy things she could do, when he'd already torn through her stasis like tissue paper. The rest of the tachi was waking up now, or at least, Sango and Miroku were. Kagome was stirring, and Shippou slumbered on.

"Don't bother," said the invader with a grin in his voice, a nimbus of electric-blue light gathering around his hand and illuminating his face, "I taught you everything you know."

"_Trisak?_" she gasped.

"The same," he replied smugly.

"Why'd you come sneaking up at night like this?" she asked, confused. "And…what were you doing to Inuyasha?" Trisak tried a charming half-smile. "_Tell_ me." She commanded ominously.

He told her.

The inu-tachi awoke rather earlier than they'd planned to, to the sound of Aerie shouting, "You just can't _do_ things like that! It's the worst kind of meddling! I thought you said you were supposed to stay out of mortal lives most of the time!" while a five-foot stranger with wings like a dragonfly protested,

"You're one to talk! It was just a bit of a _joke! _I was just giving him his _choice!_ I wasn't going to _do_ anything!"

"Don't give me that! You weren't going to tell him, were you? So it was thoroughly nasty! Do you know how often he says things he doesn't mean? You could have gotten him to turn himself into a cockatoo!"

"Has he ever said he wants to be a cockatoo?" Trisak asked with interest.

"Well, no…" admitted Aerie. "That was just an example! My _point_ remains that – oh. Good, um, morning, everybody."

"What's going on?" asked Sango. "Who is this?"

"Um, this is Trisak…" said Aerie, "biggest dope in the multiverse, let me tell you. Tris, these are, in descending order of size, Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Shippou, and Kirara. And a chicken."

"Pleased to meet you," Trisak said, with an engaging grin and a bobbing sort of bow.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH INUYASHA!" Kagome exclaimed from his side, where she had evidently gone first thing when she realized he was still lying down. Miroku, Sango, and Shippou moved to see. "He's all stiff and he's just staring at the sky and he's not breathing!"

Miroku looked at Trisak, eyes narrow. "What did you do?"

Aerie raised a hand. "Eh-heh. That was me, actually." Everyone stared at her. It felt like being at the front of the class when your lame science-project volcano has just produced the explosion of the century and covered everyone in red-dyed vinegar froth. "But it's just a stasis! It'll come right off, and he'll be fine!"

"So take it off," Miroku recommended.

"Only if he promises he won't rip me into pieces before I get a chance to explain everything," Aerie replied guardedly.

"How is he to promise that? Or indeed say anything at all?" Miroku asked, looking toward Inuyasha's static form.

"Uh, true. OK, if Kagome promises."

"He won't," Kagome assured her, "I still want an explanation."

"Right," said Aerie, and took the stasis off.

Inuyasha bounded upright, face dark with rage. He did not like being made to feel helpless. In fact, he loathed it. "You bloody wench!" he growled, going for her. The reason he did not say something stronger is that this is a K-rated fic.

"Osuwari, Inuyasha," Kagome directed. He was introduced to a new patch of ground. It had a rock in it. The rock broke.

"Hard head," Trisak commented admiringly. Aerie gave him a pointed look. "Whaaat? Oh, _I_ have to explain? You're the one who froze him!"

"_You're_ the one who came up with and attempted to implement that crazy plot! _You _can tell them about it!"

Trisak sighed. "Alright, fine. You're a hard taskmaster, milady."

Kagome watched the two impatiently, waiting for them to get to the point. Aerie was telling Trisak not to call her milady and to start talking, the story wasn't going to get any less stupid. Apparently she knew him rather well. No one would talk to a new acquaintance like that. Not even Aerie.

"Let's all sit down!" suggested the stranger brightly. He was a bit short even by Japanese standards, about five centimeters shorter than Kagome, and had very curly hair that made her think of chocolate and twinkling blue-grey eyes and a grin. He was wearing all green and brown in some really old Western style, sort of like the 'elves' that had attacked them, only with a vest. And, she saw as he sat down, he had wings, shining transparent ones like a dragonfly's. Strange. Maybe he was a dragonfly youkai or something. That might explain it. Was there such a thing?

Everybody sat down, or in Inuyasha's case sat up. Miroku put some kindling and a few bigger pieces of wood on the fire, throwing jumping light on the circle of expectant faces.

"Well, you see," said Trisak, "it started with me getting away from some lunatic who wanted to duel with me, but that's not important. _Important_ bit starts when I sat in the bushes outside your camp and happened to overhear a conversation regarding a magic bead."

"Eavesdropped, you mean," Aerie put in.

He chuckled and shrugged. "I am what I am. Anyway, I overheard –" He broke off, looking up. "What the…."

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And so what Trisak was doing to Inuyasha you will have to wait until chapter fifteen to find out! Haha! And what Yanagi and Kagura are doing you will also have to wait to find out! And exactly what Kileb told Lelentaeli to do you will _also_ have to wait to find out! I'm evil! Heehee! Haha! Kihiii! And sundry other forms of evil laughter. Contact the Clarinetists for lessons. Yes, Lelentaeli & co are really very nice people. Kileb's just really good at enslaving.

**Trisak: **Hurrah! My debut! Well, not really, but I finally get to meet these people in plot instead of in Authors' Notes!

**TrisakA: **You know, these Authors' Notes make me wish I hadn't stolen your name. Is it hard to read with the one-letter difference, peopleses?

**Trisak: **Serves you right if it is. Name-thief!

**Aerie: **Why is everybody mad at me, too, that's what I want to know!

**Miroku:** No one is mad at you, Aerie.

**Inuyasha:** Yeah right, monk!

**Trisak: **Anyway, I want to hurry up and rescue Lel' already.

**Aerie:** Ditto!

**TrisakA:** Wait on it, wait on it….

**Trisak: **What, are you sadistic?

**TrisakA:** It's a story; I can't make things _easy_ for you guys! Especially him! I think he's going to be my angstiness factor, because I don't know how to write without one!

**Shippou:** Meany.

**TrisakA:** Am not!

**Shippou: **Are so!

**TrisakA: **Am not!

**Shippou:** Are so! And you smell funny!

**TrisakA:** Am not! Do not! Anyway, Tris, Kileb's the one who's sadisitic!

**Kileb:** Am not.

**Company:** Are so.

**Kileb: **These are the days / Of miracle and wonder / This is the long distance call / The way the camera follows us in slow-mo / The way we look to us all / The way we look to a distant constellation / That's dying in a corner of the sky / These are the days of miracle and wonder / And don't cry baby, don't cry / Don't cry.

**Company:** cricket, cricket

**TrisakA:** Please sing your Paul Simon elsewhere, Kileb.

**Kileb:** Where?

**TrisakA:** Over there, see? Biggest anime fan has tea.

**Kileb: **Oh! Hi baf! Have an extra cup::makes for baf while singing: It was a slow day / And the sun was beating / On the soldiers by the side of the road / There was a bright light / A shattering of shop windows / The bomb in the baby carriage / Was wired to the radio –

**TrisakA:** Shut up! I didn't realize how sick that part of that song was until I heard you singing it! It's _supposed_ to be kind of mournful, everybody.

**Yanagi:** Can we have lunch now?

**TrisakA:** Sure. Wow, these Authors' Notes no longer have much connection with the story, do they? Must remedy that…. Anyway, please review me! Pretty please! Even though I took…wow, almost two months, summer months, to write it! In my defense, I don't get hold of the computer very often when I'm at home with my sister. She can sit in this chair for ten straight hours reading fanfics and still have no intention of stopping when Mom turns her out to check her e-mail.


	15. Of Buns and Cafe Latte

Sorry it's been so long, what with one thing and another. I know people were waiting to see the resolution of a bunch of stuff this chapter. Most of it got deleted when poor Marietta died, or something, so I had to start over. (No, Marietta isn't a person. She's a PC. And she's starting to remind me of some ancient relative who's eternally on her last legs, in and out of the hospital…) So I'll dedicate this chapter to her, because I always said such mean things about her and now she's dying.

I've been doing some research lately, by the way…Edo, which became Tokyo when the Meiji government moved the emperor there, was a fishing village before Tokugawa Ieyasu settled there and made it his base. Then it turned rather rapidly into a city. So what I'm wondering is, where are all the fish? I see the rice paddies, but where are all the fish!

**NefCanuck:** XD Hee. I hope you continue to think so. Thanks!

**medlii:** Eh-heh…boo? Sorry, this was not even vaguely soon, but I hope you'll forgive me. Yay! XD Everybody likes Kileb, it's so cool! XD I have…plans for the chicken… Here's a cookie for the review!

**biggest anime fan:** Wait! Back up! Read chapter fourteen! XD (hugs) So nice to have you back!

* * *

_"Well, you see," said Trisak, "it started with me getting away from some lunatic who wanted to duel with me, but that's not important. Important bit starts when I sat in the bushes outside your camp and happened to overhear a conversation regarding a magic bead."_

"_Eavesdropped, you mean," Aerie put in. _

_He chuckled and shrugged. "I am what I am. Anyway, I overheard –" He broke off, looking up. "What the…."_

"What is it?" Sango asked.

"Someone's coming," said Inuyasha, gripping Tetsusaiga. Miroku shifted his grip on his staff to a fighting stance and irritably pushed the hair out of his eyes, trying to get it to tuck behind his ears, though there just wasn't enough of it. Shayanui's theft of his ponytail was more than just a little annoying at this point.

"Sango," said Aerie, deciding that this was the opportune moment to arm herself, "lend me your sword?" She was already whipping it stealthily from its sheath as she asked.

Sango shot her an ironic look. "But of course," she said dryly.

A tense minute later, everyone still and tight-lunged in the pre-dawn gloom, one of the elves dropped out of a tree into the camp, the one with the bow. "Marrkas!" Trisak cried reproachfully. This Marrkas straightened, stared at Trisak as if he had erupted from the ground surrounded by leaping flames, and turned and ran like a scared rabbit. "No you don't!" Trisak called out, giving chase. They vanished from hearing scant moments before Lelentaeli, the two grey shadows, and Kohaku arrived. Once again, they came from separate directions, and Sango of course spun to face Kohaku. Miroku turned with her, as did Kirara. The other four remained facing the elves. The chicken had wisely absented itself.

"Inuyasha?" said Kagome, looking to him for a plan of action.

"You two keep the ones in grey busy," said Aerie. "I need to talk to Lelentaeli." She ran forward, Sango's sword in one hand.

"Idiot girl!" Inuyasha snarled, too late. "Don't - " Then the two remaining grey-clad elves attacked him, and he had to parry their swords. He growled a curse and did so, almost not getting Tetsusaiga into position in time. "Kagome," he ordered, as they fell back for a moment, "get away. Into the trees." She did so without discussion. Her bow was of little use at close quarters, unless she meant to whack them with the bowstave, which she somehow doubted would strike fear into their hearts. Then the two elves closed in again, and Inuyasha was occupied with them. Fighting two opponents was not easy, because you had to pay attention to them both, or one could get you in the back. And they were _good_. He concentrated. After his recent string of indignities, it was good to be _fighting_ again. But he had better win.

Aerie was busy with Lelentaeli. After she went charging at him, waving her purloined blade, she had come to an abrupt halt three or four yards away and started yelling. "Lelentaeli!" she shouted. "Why are you doing this?" He looked straight through her face. She clenched her fists. "Curse it, Lel', how did he get hold of you? What happened? _Answer_ me!" She swung Sango's sword at him on the last word, and he blocked it in a flicker of movement. The clash of meeting blades was already lost amid the sounds of the tiny battle that rose around them. "Answer me!" she repeated, coming body-to-body with a _shrik_. (For those who don't know, this basically meant that their swords slid together until the hilts met, so their faces were close together. Good for shouting in your opponent's face, if you are so inclined. Very dramatic. Very stupid if you're the person with weaker arms.) With no change of expression, he began to bear down on her, until her arms were screaming and her back and knees were in agony. Owch, that hurt. She was going to sit down in a minute, when her knees gave out. That would be both dangerous and undignified.

She freed her sword and retreated, with difficulty, almost losing her head in the process. "Lel'?" she said, holding up her sword in between them. "Come back, you idiot! You've got to be in there somewhere!"

He struck at her. She deflected it before it found her flesh and returned it. He parried her sword with ease and then began to rain blows on her, heavy, steady, economical blows that made the muscles in her arms burn to catch. She backed up steadily, shouting, "No, Lel'! You don't want to do this! Fight it, curse you!" She tried all her tricks, but he was the one who had taught them to her in the first place. He kept beating her back, and she kept barely surviving, and she kept talking, and he kept staring through her with a face like granite. She was going to have to change her angle of retreat soon or she'd walk into the fire. "Come on, do you want me to end up like Dishinabi?" A hit! A palpable hit! This was like playing battleship, just keep targeting random vulnerable places until you got a reaction. He faltered. Aerie leaned forward, pressing her advantage. "Come on, hear me, you'll be fine, wake up…." Lelentaeli abruptly broke from the pattern of the duel and struck toward her jaw with a fist. Somehow Aerie managed to mostly dodge it while catching the matching swing of his sword on Sango's blade. Her clipped her temple and her eyes swam for a moment. _Stupid ambidextrous elves,_ she thought. Something else occurred to her as she blinked her vision clear. "And if you really wanted to kill me, I'd be dead by now," she panted. "You _trained_ me, Lelentaeli. I know."

His sword ducked under hers and nearly gutted her. "S-stop it," he grated. "You're not…helping."

"There, you see?" Aerie said, wondering how she was able to speak with her lungs labouring this hard just to _breathe._ "You talked to me. I'll just go on talking, go on fighting you, until you wake up."

"Don't…talk…to me…." he whispered. His attack suddenly redoubled, leaving Aerie with no chance to open her mouth or indeed do anything but concentrate on staying alive. And yet she could tell that he was still holding back. Either he was resisting like anything, or he had been commanded not to kill her. She found the later possibility decidedly unsettling.

While all this fascinating stuff had been going on, the following developments had occurred:

Marrkas had reappeared from the woods with Trisak no longer in tow, and he and Kagome stood on opposite sides of the clearing, firing arrows at each other. Both had yet to hit. Kagome was having trouble in the dark. She ranged from wild shots, feet off target, to one-inch misses. Marrkas had had to dodge a few times. His grey-fletched arrows formed a neat circle around the schoolgirl. If Aerie had been paying attention, this would have confirmed her suspicions.

Inuyasha was handling one-and-a-half elves at a given moment, with Miroku backing him up. He was really trying to get to Marrkas and put a stop to his shooting at Kagome, but the nameless two wouldn't let him. Every time he took a step they redoubled their assaults, and he couldn't get _through_. It was like fighting Hiten all over again, although at least this time Kagome wasn't actively being strangled. The elves bent and dodged around the path of his sword as if they were made of smoke, which it sometimes seemed they might be. They also seemed to have no aura, nothing for Tetsusaiga to get grip on and reflect back at them. They just kept attacking him, with nothing more mystical than really sharp swords, and for the first time Inuyasha regretted the size of the transformed Tetsusaiga. It made maneuvering to follow their flitting movements difficult, like swatting flies with a bargepole. One-handed, because his left arm was only half-healed, and his back was getting more and more sore. And they never _said_ anything! He couldn't have a good fight without banter and insults! That was like…like having a dumpling without the stuffing!

Sango and Kirara were focussing on Kohaku. "Kohaku, please!" Sango cried, bringing her boomerang up in time to repel his bloodthirsty scythe. The loss of her sword was really telling on her now. Hiraikotsu was simply not versatile enough to replace the blade. "Kohaku, stop making me fight you!" she shouted. "I'm your sister! Remember me! I don't want to do this!" She and Aerie retreated into each other, winding up back to back.

"Naraku and Kileb are sore losers," Aerie panted, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "You alright, Sango?"

"Fine," replied Sango laconically, biting off the word. "You?"

"Fine for now. Hang on a minute." Lelentaeli came in like a hell-kite and she and was unable to converse for almost the requested minute.

"Look at that," Sango said as they had a bit of a breather, jerking her head toward the furious Kagome in her little fence of arrows. "They're _playing_ with us!"

Aerie glanced in the direction indicated and her eyes narrowed. "What are you playing at, Kileb?" she muttered. She leapt forward toward Lelentaeli, swinging Sango's sword in a broad arc. "Lel'!" she shouted at him. "You can't go on like this! _Wake up!_" The dramatic effect of all this was somewhat lessened when she tripped and plummeted face-first toward the blades of both swords, about to be impaled. Lelentaeli stepped hurriedly aside, taking his sword with him, and she twisted away from her own, rolled, and came to her feet. "Ha!" she said. "Not killing me! And why might that be?" She paused.

Lelentaeli's face was grey, his breath strained. This plainly had nothing to do with physical expenditure of energy in swordfighting, since she had about as much ability to press him hard in a duel as a herring did to defeat Hercules in a wrestling match. He stared at the ground behind a sheer curtain of blond hair. It was paler than she remembered. "Get…away…." He said. "Can't…stop…for long…."

Aerie laughed. "Oh, sure, I'll go!" she said derisively. "Of _course_ I'm going to leave you in thrall to that evil smiling idiot, just run away and never look back!"

"You'll…get…killed."

"I'll risk it," she said briskly. "You said I'd get killed if I waited for you when the mountain fell down after Trisak pressed the big red button that said 'Do not press,' and I waited, and I'm still alive." She went up to him without being cut in half, and this emboldened her. She shifted her sword into her left hand and took hold of his right wrist. His sword hung in his other hand, point on the ground. He went very still. "Come on, Lel," Aerie told him, "come back. It's all right. No one's mad at you for what you did except you. You've got to let it go." His fingers clenched around her wrist in return, but he did not look up. "Lel'?" she said hopefully.

He raised his head, hair sliding back to show his face. It was empty. "Sorry, milady," he said. "I can't let go." His sword came up, and there was no time to do anything, get hers in the way, or dodge, and he still had hold of her wrist –

The sword went flying. The hand was gone from her arm.

"Can't take my eyes off you for ten minutes, can I, wench, before you pull a dumb stunt like that?" sniffed Inuyasha, from his crouch on Lelentaeli's chest.

Aerie flushed. "Hey, I've saved your bacon once already, dog-boy!" she snapped. Then she looked down. "Thanks for that. I would have died."

"Well, just don't read too much into it," he growled, looking away. "Kagome would fuss if I let you get sliced up."

Aerie shook her head and smiled. "Thank you, anyway," she said. Nice to know she'd made it under the umbrella of Companions Who Required Protection somehow. Then she remembered. "Lel?" she asked. He was still flat on his back under Inuyasha.

"Feh," Inuyasha said. "You're still worried about this guy, after he just almost killed you?"

"You worry about Kikyou, don't you? And she's a lot more in control of her own mind than Lel' is right now." Aerie retorted. "Now, Lel'? I know you can't be knocked out or anything. He didn't hit you hard enough." She circled around him until she was on the other side of Inuyasha and could see Lelentaeli's face. His eyes and teeth were clenched and he was in a fairly classic state of anime-style internal struggle. (One had to wonder if it was being here in a manga-land that made him look like that during an internal battle, or if the people who made it look like that actually _knew_ what someone waging war within himself looked like somehow.) Worried as she was, Aerie smiled. "Knew he couldn't give up for long."

"Inuyasha!" Miroku cried, "Some assistance please?" He was flailing about with precision, somehow keeping both the sword-wielders at bay with his staff. For the moment.

"Coming, monk!" Inuyasha called, leaping off of Lelentaeli, which made the elf say 'oof.'

Kohaku had let his scythe fall and was staring at Sango with a frown of concentration, as if wracking his brains for something. Marrkas was fitting another arrow to the string with a distant look on his face that said to Kagome he was going to be aiming for her heart next shot. She nocked one of her own, determined that if he shot her she would at least shoot him back. Inuyasha landed behind the two elves Miroku was fighting and ran one through. Yes, it was dishonorable, but it was better than letting Miroku get gutted like a mackerel.

"Aa," said the elf, falling to her knees. Inuyasha leapt past her to help Miroku with his remaining opponent, and the dying elf snatched at his haori. He turned to look at her, ready to behead her if she tried any last-minute stabbing. She gave him a wobbly smile, a bubble of blood popping at the corner of her mouth. "Thank…you." She said, and died.

Inuyasha turned to Miroku in the state that is known as Bewilderment. "She said thank you!" he shouted. "I killed her and she said thank you!"

"It's not that surprising," Miroku replied breathlessly, catching the sweep of a sword on his staff and thrusting back toward its utterly blank-faced wielder, who showed no flicker of expression as he twisted free and moved into a new attack pattern. He did not seem to have noticed that his partner had fallen. "They are…are enslaved, you know. Could you see your…your way to helping me with this one before…my arms detach from my shoulders?"

"No," Inuyasha answered, "I have to go help Kagome." And he leapt off to do so, leaving Miroku mentally listing potential painful deaths for the hanyou, fighting for his life, and trying to flick the hair out of his eyes without the use of his hands.

Kagome and Marrkas released their arrows at the same moment. They did not, in fact, follow the same trajectory, but because Marrkas' was travelling faster this did not matter very much. Against all odds, they collided midair, and shattered.

At that moment, the sun came up.

At the same moment, Inuyasha reached Kagome's side and plucked her up, growling, "I told you to _hide!_"

Also at the same moment, Trisak came bursting into the clearing, having had to run back after Marrkas' archery had made a total mess of his wings.

_Also_ at the same moment, Lelentaeli sat bolt upright and looked around for his sword, and not finding it hit Aerie very hard in the stomach. She went flying backward, the breath completely knocked out of her.

And _also_ at the same moment, a bun-maker in a small town in Germany had a baby. This has nothing to do with our story, and will continue to have nothing to do with it, and also had no impact on history since the baby grew into a man who made buns in exactly the same way his parents had and died without doing anything more noteworthy. This happens sometimes. Some people are like that. It's not unpleasant, if you are interested in buns, which he was. That is really all that can be said about him – he was a bun-maker and a son of bun-makers. And, at this moment, he was born.

Meanwhile, back in Japan, Aerie was lying on the ground attempting to gasp, Lelentaeli was sprinting for his sword even as doubt began to twist in his face again, Inuyasha was looking for a safe place to set Kagome down, Kohaku and Sango were trying to decide whether to go on with attempting to kill each other, Miroku was cursing a blue streak under his breath and trying to survive, Shippou was debating coming out of hiding to help Miroku, and Trisak was giving Marrkas the chewing-out of his lifetime.

Abruptly, something like a foghorn sounded. The three living elves and Kohaku looked up as Kagura's feather swooped toward the ground. It carried three. Kagura, arms crossed, glared through everyone there as if to deny that she had been demoted to a taxi. Kileb lounged on one side, head propped on one hand. Naraku sat erect amid his voluminous kimono. They looked down at the scene. Everyone looked up at them.

"We are almost done playing," Naraku said, that infuriating smirk of his curving his lips.

"Yes, so keep your eyes open, you lot," put in Kileb. He winked at Inuyasha. "Back in control now, eh? Lucky dog. But don't forget – I know the inside of your head almost as well as you know it yourself." He considered this. "Probably better, actually. So watch your back, and keep those mental shields up, eh?"

Inuyasha's teeth were clenched so hard the grinding was audible. He looked ready to rend, but unfortunately he had his arms full of Kagome. Aerie and Miroku both glowered from where they were lying and gasping like fish out of water. Trisak shook his head and went to check on Aerie.

"You shut up!" Kagome yelled at Kileb.

"Oh, now that's not polite, is it? I'm injured," Kileb told her earnestly. "Really."

Naraku cleared his throat. As soon as he had done so he felt somewhat humiliated, as he could not remember _ever_ having to clear his throat to get people's attention before. Usually he had enough of a swirling air of menace and/or a highly noticeable location or activity that made him pretty much impossible to ignore. But all of these things are difficult to maintain when you're sharing what is admittedly a flying feather with a yammering red-headed lunatic.

"Hm?" said Kileb "Oh. Right. Toodles!" And with that the feather-craft pulled up and vanished quickly, the four slave-fighters trailing rapidly away behind.

Inuyasha glared after them. "Bastard," he growled.

"Which one?" asked Kagome as he set her down.

"Both."

Sango shook herself out of some kind of reverie and went over to Miroku, who had collapsed on his face beside the dead elf. "Are you alright, houshi-sama?" she asked.

"Once…I…I've had…a…rest…" he gasped out, "…fine…"

Sango looked worried. She bent down beside him. "What happened?" she asked.

"Fighting." He said concisely, conserving breath, as Shippou scampered out shamefacedly to poke at him.

"He did good," Inuyasha said, coming over with Kagome beside him. "Beats me why he didn't use his wind tunnel, though."

"Wasn't…their…fault…." Miroku wheezed.

"Does someone have any suggestions about how to get Aerie breathing again?" Trisak demanded from the far side of the battleground.

* * *

"So Aidrow is dead," said Trisak, about twenty minutes later, gently closing her eyes so that they no longer stared up at the sky. "I am sorry. She should have had much longer." He stood with his eyes lowered for a moment, then turned away, cheerful again. That was his trick to not throwing up his hands and ceasing to care what happened at all – he didn't hang on to things. It wasn't that he had already forgotten or ceased to care about Aidrow, but if he allowed people dying to keep him down he'd have hit magma by then, he'd be so low. Occupational hazard, you might say.

"Shouldn't we bury her?" asked Sango. "Or burn her?"

Trisak shook his head. "No, we don't really hold with that. She wouldn't appreciate it. If we can't take her home, then there's nothing really to do for her."

Everyone glanced uneasily at the corpse, except for Inuyasha, who was sitting aloof with crossed arms, seeming to feel that he was being blamed for all this, when he couldn't have realistically done anything else at the time. "It seems wrong," said Kagome at last. "I mean, to just leave her here."

"I do see your side of things, but believe me, it would be just as wrong to put her in a hole," Trisak replied. "And making a big fire just to cremate her body wouldn't have made sense to her at all, even if they _do_ seem to have a way of knowing where we are anyway." He thought about it. "I know! We can build her a cairn, how's that?"

"A cairn?" repeated Miroku

"With stones, you know?"

Kagome looked around. "What stones?"

"Well, we'd have to go find them and bring them here, of course."

"Won't that be…an awful lot of work?" Shippou asked doubtfully.

"Yes," agreed Trisak. "We don't have to, though. We prefer just to let the wind and the rain do their work. And worms. It's their work, too. And toadstools-"

"All right!" Aerie interrupted him, fully aware that he would go on to list every agent of decomposition in the natural world if allowed to. "The point is, you don't really want us to build a cairn, either, do you?"

"Not really," Trisak admitted. Everyone relaxed a little, somewhat guiltily. Spending the morning lugging rocks was not precisely appealing.

"Would you mind if I said a few words for her?" Miroku asked.

"Hm?" Trisak said. "Words?"

"I am a servant of the Buddha," Miroku explained, bowing slightly with his best saintly face on.

"Oh," said Trisak, and it was the sort of 'oh' people say when you tell them you've got dandruff and they hadn't noticed, or when you share that your hobby is exploring industrial sewage sites or collecting earwax. "You're a religious person." Then he smiled. "I'm sorry, I hadn't realized. Of course, go ahead."

Miroku's ceremony was simple, since the only person there who had known the deceased was Trisak, and there wasn't time or place for a proper funeral.

"What _were_ you doing to Inuyasha, anyway?" Kagome asked him sharply.

"That's right," said Miroku, "you were interrupted. Please continue."

"I'll tell you as we go," Trisak replied, and everyone agreed. No one wanted to stay any longer in the company of Aidrow's body. Kagome found her backpack, which had been stepped on, and Sango put her kimono back on and swung Hiraikotsu onto her back, Aerie stuffed her blanket in her satchel, and they set off. Miroku and Inuyasha somehow got on without luggage. Miroku broke up a loaf of bread and handed it around, and they ate as they went. Everyone looked expectantly at Trisak.

"Well, I heard you talking last night," the little man began, his shredded wings flapping slowly and pointlessly as they walked. "And it was interesting. You're after a magic bead, I hear?"

"More or less," Kagome agreed.

"Well, I heard what milady here," he nodded toward Aerie, who was staring up at the sky as if expecting a dive-bombing by winged monkeys. "asked dog-lad."

"Don't call me that," Aerie told the theoretical winged monkeys, or possibly the clouds. "And his name is Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha. Right. So I heard what Aerie asked Inuyasha." He paused just long enough that Inuyasha snapped,

"_And?_"

Trisak laughed. "Just didn't want to be rude about saying this. Well, I thought it would be funny – no, I don't mean funny, I mean…helpful!" he amended hurriedly. "Helpful if he could get to decide what he wants to be without needing the bead."

Inuyasha attempted to breath bread and choked. "_What?_" he squeaked between coughs, face almost matching his haori. Everyone stopped to let him cough. Kagome seemed dumbstruck, and had opened and shut her mouth several times without saying anything. When the hanyou's lungs were clear he repeated, "What!"

"Just what I said," Trisak replied, appearing to enjoy the sensation he had created. "I mean, that bead's no end of headaches, and there doesn't seem to be much point to him fussing over what he wants to be when he can't actually do anything about it, so…."

Sango leaned down to look him in the face. "What…did…you…do…?" she asked very distinctly, as if he might be slow.

Trisak sighed. "This isn't going over well, is it? I thought people _liked_ having wishes granted."

"So you decided to be Inuyasha's fairy godmother?" Kagome asked incredulously, finally finding her voice.

"Uhm…yes?" said Trisak uncertainly. "Except for the fairy part, and the godmother part? But you've got the general idea. I was setting it up so that next time he wished to be something it would happen. So if he said he wished he was a full-blood…." Kagome made a peculiar sound, like a dog's squeaky toy, the kind shaped like a hamburger, being stepped on.

"But I interrupted you," said Aerie.

Trisak twiddled his thumbs, grinning nervously. "Uh, well, that, yes…. I'd got the power locus defined and part of the purpose, but I hadn't set the bounds or finished the periphery, so -"

"What did you just say?" Inuyasha demanded, his voice only a little squeaky from bread-breathing.

"He had told the power he was working with to focus on you, and partially what he wanted done, but there were not any limitations laid down yet," Miroku translated. "Which is to say, Aerie interrupted at the worst possible time. Am I right?" he asked Trisak.

He nodded. "There's enough power tied to him right now to pack quite a punch," he agreed. "And it's focused on granting spoken wishes. But it's not controlled."

"And what does that mean?" Kagome asked. "Will something bad happen?"

Trisak shrugged. "Means anything could happen if he's not careful, and not just anything he wishes, although that could be bad enough. But in that case Inuyasha here could just wish for a café latte and that would be the end of it. But if he wished for a café latte he might turn into one, or turn Madam Boomerang into a fig tree, or have five hundred tons of chocolate fall on his head, or anything."

"Feh," said Inuyasha, "I wish you'd-mmph!" Five hands had flown to cover his mouth – Miroku's, Kagome's, Sango's, Aerie's, and Shippou's. His golden eyes stared irritably over the pile of fingers. "I was just _saying,_" he grumbled, as they took them away.

"Well don't just say," Kagome told him worriedly. "Didn't you hear what could happen?"

"Yeah," said Aerie, "do you want to be a café latte?"

"Feh," said Inuyasha, and stalked off. If he'd been a cat his tail would have been pointing straight at the sky.

"Well, it seems as though we are stopping for a while," said Miroku, sitting down on a convenient stone.

"Yep," agreed Aerie. "Hey, Shippou, want to play war again?"

"Sure!" said Shippou happily.

* * *

Kagome looked up into the tree where Inuyasha was sulking. "Hey!" she called. "You going to come down?"

"Keh," said Inuyasha.

"Don't make me make you!" she threatened.

Leaves rustled and his face appeared. "Fine," he said, jumping down to land beside her. "What do you want?" Kagome shrugged. "Hmph," said the hanyou moodily, crossing his arms. There was a long silence. "Kagome," Inuyasha said after a while, "what's a café latte?"

* * *

And so that's that! Hope it was sufficient; somehow it wound up being two really long scenes with the tachi… Don't worry, though, Yanagi and Kagura are still chugging away, and the next update should be sooner since I chopped off a scene with them because this chapter was long enough. No cliffy this time, so I'll just have to hope…although that may be kind of dumb, given that the last chapter got just 2 reviews…. Review us? Pretty please?

**Aerie:**Yes, do, or we'll never get out of the mess she's put us in!

**Inuyasha:** And I'll be stuck with… counts on fingers Two wounds and three spells on me, counting that hag's rosary!

**Kagome:** demonstrates Osuwari!

**Kileb: **big shiny flight attendant smile And please remember to keep your mental shields up and your seatbelt buckled until the chapter has come to a complete stop!

**Miroku:** He really is daft, isn't he?

**TrisakA:** Yep, pretty much. Anyway, time to fly! Graaaah…I'm so tired…we didn't get back from the opera until four AM…. crashes onto keyboard


	16. Of Shishkebab and Honey

Here it is, another chapter, just in time for Christmas! And Hannukah and Kwanza, too, although less precisely. And just a bit late for the winter solstice. And for my mom's birthday. And so….

Dedication: This chapter is for my dear mother, whose birthday was a few days ago. She liked the card very much, baf!

Aaand…Disclaimer: I forgot this last chapter. Possibly the chapter before as well. Do I haaaaave to say it? Do I? Can't we pretend Miroku and Sango and everyone are mine? v.v;; OK, OK…THEY'RE NOT MINE! THEY BELONG TO TAKAHASHI-SAN! THAT'S TAKAHASHI RUMIKO-SAN, NOT THE TAKAHASHI KAZUKI-SAN WHO WRITES MY BROTHER'S YU-GI-OH MANGA!

They had, once again, gotten started, after Inuyasha and Kagome had come back out of the trees. One might wonder why they were always starting and stopping, but then one is probably not walking all day in the wilderness with a lot of incompatible personalities, one of which is a put-upon hanyou in the habit of being a driven person. One might also wonder why, since (barring the sun having changed the direction of its movement several times without their noticing) they had been traveling in the same direction for a few days, they had not seen _anything_ but trees and rocks and isolated enemies. Aerie did in fact mention this to Trisak. "I didn't know there was so much wilderness in Japan," she remarked quietly around two in the afternoon. "Actually, I didn't know there was so much _Japan_ in Japan."

"This is an accommodating sort of world we're in here," he replied with a shrug. "It provides. We're probably in some sort of long belt of uncultivated land that has just happened to have been here all along."

"It provides?" Aerie asked. "Except for maybe you, being lost in the forest is the _last_ thing any of us want."

He shrugged and flipped over to walk on his hands, craning his neck so he could still look at her. The loss of his wings did not seem to be heavily perturbing him. They were already growing back. "Did I say anything about what you want? That's Home, always very obliging. Nah, I get the sense that this is the sort of place that likes…stories. It's got story woven into the bedrock. The impossible probably happens all the time here, as long as it's narratively convenient." He grinned at her, then sprang right way up again.

Aerie thought about what she knew of this world, mostly in the way of Inuyasha and Kagome's life stories, and concurred. This was food for thought. She squirreled it away against lean times.

Trisak seemed to be trying to be conciliatory. He was being relatively quiet, except when he had taught everyone a walking song meant to be sung at the top of the lungs to which the chorus was mostly about food, which meant they ate lunch a lot earlier than usual because singing about bread and rice and meat made them all hungry.

He had made friends with Shippou, too, not that this was the hardest thing in the world to do, and was getting on pretty well with everyone else by now as well. He had zipped up and down the column for most of the morning seizing opportunities to walk and talk with members of the group. Even Kagome seemed to have gotten over her original stepped-upon-squeaky-toy reaction to his confession about what he had done to Inuyasha. In fact, the only person who still disliked him was Inuyasha.

Who had just stopped glowering at the ground and the air in front of him, replacing it with glowering at a spot to the right. Trisak cartwheeled down the slope they were making their way down under Inuyasha's leadership to land beside him. "What's wrong, Inuyasha-dono?" he asked, a miracle of manners since he usually reserved all honorifics, whatever the language, for people who had beaten him at something or people he really liked.

"Someone who's even more annoying than you are," Inuyasha muttered.

"Oh? Neat!" Trisak said. "I'll have to work hard to beat him now, I hope you understand. Who is it?"

The new arrival announced himself in a whirlwind of speed as he metaphorically screeched to a halt. It was Kouga, of course. "What are you doing here, fleabag?" Inuyasha demanded, stepping in front of the wolf as soon as he was visible.

"What else? I smelled your foul reek as I was passing and wanted to make sure you've been treating my Kagome right," Kouga replied, and with a rapid zip and small dusty cloud he was around Inuyasha and in front of Kagome. "Sure you won't change your mind and come with me, my beautiful one?" he asked, taking her hand.

Kagome shook her head. "No, Kouga. I'm afraid not, as always."

"What does that mean, 'you're afraid' not!" Inuyasha demanded again. He did a lot of demanding, Aerie had noticed.

"Well, muttface, obviously it means that she'd really _like_ to come with me, but knows that you'd get your doggy butt killed without her, so her conscience won't let her leave," Kouga answered smoothly. "Isn't that right, Kagome?"

Kagome was saved answering by having to sit Inuyasha as he launched himself at Kouga at rocketship speed. The wolf-youkai turned to cast an eye over what was either a troop (soldiers) or a troupe (clowns); it was sometimes hard to tell. "You've got some new friends, mutt," he said, apparently ignoring the fact that Inuyasha had just done a violent face-plant.

"Not _my_ friends," he muttered, spitting out a mouthful of dirt and weeds.

Aerie opened her mouth to say Owch, Inuyasha, that smarts, and after we've saved each other, too,and closed it again. It wasn't as if that would make him like her any better, especially in front of Kouga.

At that moment, Ginta and Hakkaku arrived, panting. "Kouga, why'd you disappear like that…? Oh," Ginta said. "Hi, Sister Kagome."

"Hello, Ginta," Kagome replied. Kouga was still holding her hand.

"You worried us, Kouga. We thought something was wrong," said Hakkaku.

"Nothing that Kagome couldn't fix in an instant if she would come away with me," the prince replied.

Hakkaku fidgeted. "We-ell, actually…"

Kouga frowned. "Spit it out."

It was Ginta who answered. "The pack – the wolves. I mean, there's a fight. You know how you've been picking up packs as you went? The heads are fighting it out now, to see who's to rule this giant pack you've made of them. We couldn't – stop them."

"What!" Kouga cried. "The nerve…the absolute nerve…why didn't you tell me right away!" He turned to Kagome. "Yet again, sadly, circumstance draws me from your side. But do not fear, I will return to you!" And he was off again in his whirlwind. With hurried farewells, Ginta and Hakkaku wheeled around to start after him. They still hadn't caught their breath.

Trisak whistled as Inuyasha muttered curses that would have turned the air blue in an even more obliging world with a literal bent. "You know," Trisak remarked, "I'm not even going to bother trying. That was _annoying._"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It had been a full day since the first stage of Yanagi's plans for Naraku's sub-basement had gone off without a hitch. Between them, Kagura and Yanagi had dug and concealed a tunnel leading from Naraku's basement to the nearest dungeon. It was not large enough for a grown man to pass without slithering, but Yanagi fitted very well. It had been almost fun to dig, although Kagura had wound up doing most of the work since she was both larger and much stronger. She'd tried to make the work go faster with her winds and all but collapsed the thing on Yanagi's head. The girl had given her a chewing-out about it which, although it had had the appearance of a robin scolding a hawk, had been quite effective due to its well-chosen words. Kagura had found, however, that Yanagi was difficult to resent. It was a talent. Kagura filed that thought away.

Now Kagura felt suspicious eyes on her, as Yanagi's pack gathered to meet in one of the bedrooms that had belonged to people who were dead. There was a thick layer of dust over everything. No one said anything, however, until they were seated on their heels in a circle that filled most of the room. Kagura counted silently. Twelve.

Yanagi raised one hand in the air, drawing the few bits of attention that hadn't been focused on her anyway. "Alright, everyone. I felt we needed to meet as a group at least once, for the sharing of information and for morale. Firstly, Kagura reports that the Dog's squad has moved into one of the safest safe zones in the country, so we can not move on bringing them in as yet, but that will be our next order of business. The slave-fighter Lelentaeli -" -she had been practicing saying the name or she'd never have made it through all of those l's- "-appears to be less than fully conditioned, which we may be able to use in future. I've already taken reports, but is there anything anyone would like to discuss?"

"We-ell," said Myaki, who was an earnest young man with a monkeyish face, who had he lived in another age might have had bumper stickers saying things like the tried and true 'What if they gave a war and nobody came?' "Yes. It's about her." He pointed to Kagura, who was sitting on Yanagi's left.

"What about her?" Yanagi asked, her tone betraying nothing of her opinion.

"Well, she's a demon, isn't she? One of _his_ hellspawn, too. No offense meant, but this is just like letting a worm into our heart."

"Kagura is not to blame for her birth," Yanagi replied primly, "nor is she likely to betray us. She wants her freedom from Naraku as much as we do. And we need her. She is scout, spy, and if need be soldiery."

"Miss…she'll break," said Erisu. "She's his through and through. She'll tell him what we're doing, and that'll be the end of us."

Kagura's hands were clenched very tight, her nails biting into her palms. She would not have thought that it would bother her. It was just a lot of humans whose good opinions she wouldn't give half a moldy banana for. But the unfriendly eyes and the accusations of being no more, and having no potential to be more, than a servant to Naraku, they stung. She longed to make a biting, sarcastic retort, but knew that it would get her nowhere except possibly lynched.

Yanagi brought her fists down on the floor with a thump. Everyone jumped. It was the kind of thump that left you surprised that there wasn't a splintery crater in the floor, although there wasn't, of course. "That is _quite enough_ of that," she declared. "I tell you we may trust her, we _must_ trust her. We cannot succeed without her. Kagura, would you like to say anything?" She had known this would be a hurdle. Her pack had good reason to distrust Kagura, even to hate her. But she had to convince them to work together anyway. If she pulled this off, she would feel herself well-qualified to conduct negotiations for a permanent peace treaty between cats and dogs.

Kagura shook her head. "You have already said everything I might say," she answered dryly, "and they believe it more from you."

"But of course we do," put in Kagami, whose bumper sticker would say, 'I brake for scholars, priests, small mammals, and no particular reason.' "She is our wise and glorious leader. Truth drips like honey from her tongue."

"Eww, Kagami!" Kyoko protested. "That's disgusting. Who wants to eat honey that dripped off a _tongue_?"

Yanagi sat back. For now, at least, the river was crossed. She shared a glance with Kagura. They were getting to understand one another very well.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Do we _have_ to go in?" Kagome asked about forty minutes later, looking nervously into the gloom of the cave they had discovered.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "_No_, Kagome. You can stay here; I'll go in. I can smell Naraku's stink in there, and that makes me curious."

Kagome tapped a foot. "But it could be a trap, right? It's _probably _a trap."

"So?" Inuyasha retorted.

"I'm coming too," Aerie declared, shifting her new stave from hand to hand. It wasn't as good as a sword, but Sango had flat out sworn never to let Aerie touch her blade again. When Lelentaeli had knocked her across the battlefield it had been dropped in a puddle, and Sango was still annoyed about it.

"And me," added Trisak. "This looks interesting."

"I'll stay here and look after Kagome and Shippou," volunteered Sango wearily. That was _always_ her job. Just once she'd like to be in the front lines.

"And I will stay and look after these lovely ladies," announced Miroku, with his best saintly expression.

Inuyasha grabbed his shoulder with a scowl and yanked him toward the cave. "You're coming with _me._"

By the time Aerie, Trisak, Miroku, and Inuyasha had gone forty yards, it was pitch black. "OK, on second thought," came a voice out of the darkness, in the aftermath of three stubbed toes, a calamitous collision of girl and priest, and two Trisak-engineered trippings of Inuyasha, "this was kind of dumb."

"What was?" asked another voice with just the degree of good cheer that is bloody annoying without seeming faked.

"Your existence," commented a third with disgust.

"I believe Aerie was referring to venturing in here without a light," supplied a fourth.

"And bringing dear Trisak along into a dark place, yes," agreed the first.

"Oh, come now! You malign me!"

"_You_ abrade Inuyasha's face, through contact with the floor."

"He has an aversion to abrasions?"

"There's nothing wrong with my face!"

"You got a scrape. You said so."

"Nobody thought my alliteration was funny, did they?"

"So, I got a scrape. So what?"

"Abrasion," said the voice with cutting patience, "means 'scrape.'"

"I _knew_ that!"

"Uh-huh."

"I _did_!"

"You know, I have this suspicion that I'm being ignored."

"Hsh!" said Miroku. A moment later _bump, thump, whack,_ the other three discovered, by the simple expedient of walking into it, that he had made his staff into a sort of fence by holding it horizontally. There was a prompt order of ceasing to move forward, with a side of expletives. The monk ignored the cursing. "Did anyone else hear that? Inuyasha?"

"Hear what?" asked Aerie.

"Listen."

They listened. Presently they heard what Miroku had noticed, while the other three had been too busy talking. Footsteps. They weren't alone.

"Who's there?" ventured Miroku.

_Shwik, _said a sword leaving its sheath. "Naraku," Inuyasha growled. "I smell 'im."

"Hey! Watch where you point that pigsticker!" yelped Trisak's voice.

"How?" growled Inuyasha's in reply.

"Good point," Trisak allowed, and blue light flowered in the darkness.

Everyone had to blink for a moment as their eyes adjusted, but then they could see. Trisak balanced a dancing palmful of tall flames, a shade paler than the Blue Screen of Death. Inuyasha opened his mouth to demand why Trisak hadn't done that before, then rounded on the baboon-skin-covered form to the left, which had begun to emit a low, evil chuckle.

"You are not going to leave here alive," it said.

Aerie's mind filled in the dramatic background music. She shifted her grip on her staff again. This was of no practical use, and if she had been watching herself she might have said something like 'either just hold the stick or use it,' but among other considerations holding her back from attacking there were the facts that it was just a stick and she was only human, after all, and anyway it wasn't her prerogative to attack Naraku, especially when Inuyasha, who had a sort of karma-protected right to attack Naraku, was standing right there. Dun-dun-dundun, and all that.

Trisak raised his hand, the one that wasn't full of fire. "Uhm, probably a bad time to ask, but do you say these things because you think they sound impressive?" And there went the mood, like a balloon at a party where somebody who has had far too much punch has just said 'look what I can do!' and started throwing darts in non-traditional places.

"…" said what was of course not really Naraku, because Naraku had never been inclined to field work that he could avoid. It continued to say this for just a bit too long. What it was thinking, since it was a good deal less bright than the actual Naraku, was something like: He reminds me entirely too much of the redheaded one. I have no idea where he came from. I don't like him. He'll have to die. He had to die anyway, but now he has to die more.

The kugutsu did not notice that this did not make sense. It was not equipt to notice things like that.

It realized it had not replied yet. "It won't make any difference to you in a moment," it said, which had the right sort of impending-doom tone to it, and then it pulled the string.

It was the first thing to be crushed by falling stone. But then, it wasn't equipt to think about things like that.

By the time the string was pulled, the four adventurers were already running pell-mell back the way they'd come, and picking up velocity with every step. Halfway through the 'won't,' Trisak had turned Miroku and Aerie around and started them running. Inuyasha, showing a rare streak of good sense in the face of however many tons of rock were on top of them and soon to be seeking a closer relationship, had come as well. Trisak, who had the shortest legs, was somehow managing to keep ahead of them all. Inuyasha, impatient to be not-squished, broke into his normal bounding run and promptly cracked his head on the ceiling.

Aerie and Miroku caught him. Or at least they broke his fall. If Miroku had belonged to a particular order, his abbot would probably have made him do penance for the word he said when one and a quarter hundred pounds of hanyou fell on his head while he was trying to run. If Buddhist monasteries had precisely abbots or were into doing penance, of course.

And then, with a somewhat delayed reaction to the Pulling of the String, and just as Trisak looked over his shoulder almost at the entrance to discover that the other three were not on his heels, there was a great grinding of stone, and the ceiling said hello.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kagome and Shippou had been playing with Kagome's markers when a sound from Sango made them look up. They saw Trisak framed in the mouth of the cave for a moment, then watched in horror as the whole side of the mountain gave a bit of a slump and the cave vanished. Huge rocks tumbled toward them. Sango promptly pulled Kagome and Shippou three meters backward and to the right, seconds before a boulder crushed the markers they had left behind.

As soon as the biggest rocks had mostly stopped moving, they ran forward as a unit, washing up the slope to wage war against the stone. Sango, in her fighter's fashion, had her shoulder against the biggest rock she could see and was heaving away at it, Kirara and Shippou were throwing gravel and pebbles away behind them with a frantic scrabbling sound, and Kagome was picking up stones about the size of her head and carrying them one by one, with much straining of muscles and joints, to the bottom of the pile, like a sort of demented ant which had dedicated itself to _un-_building the anthill.

When Sango's stone rolled away, she also came to her senses. She had heaved for three minutes and shifted half a ton of stone, and if she hadn't done it herself she wouldn't have known the difference. They had made hardly a dent, and Shippou, Kagome, and Kirara's debris was already building up again at the bottom. By the time they had any kind of excavation halfway up the rockslide where they were, they would have added another layer to the hill below them.

She went to Kagome, who was bent double and she dragged a particularly heavy stone laboriously to where she could give it a push and let it roll the rest of the way, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's no good," she said gently. "We'll kill ourselves before we can do them any good."

Kagome looked up at her angrily. The taijiya met her eyes. After a moment Kagome let the rock obey gravity's imperative and sink the last inch to the ground. She straightened slowly, as if its weight had been transferred to her back. "But…" she said.

Shippou had stopped digging t watch with mouth agape. "Inuyasha and Aerie and Miroku are under there!" he protested. "And Trisak! We can't just _leave!_"

"We need to find someone to help us dig this out," Sango explained, still in the same gentle voice she had used with Kagome. "We can't do it all all by ourselves. There's too much."

"They could starve while we're gone!" the kitsune protested, his mind steadfastly refusing to even consider the idea that there was nothing left to starve.

Sango sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was worried, too. _Miroku, if you aren't alive under there I will skewer you! _She thought furiously, missing the logical fallacy here. (i.e., skewering him while he was not-alive would seem to be more a matter of preparing him to become a shish-kebab and be roasted for dinner.) "They could starve while we're digging, too," she pointed out. "We're going to find Kouga and see if we can get him to help. He can't have gone far with all the wolves he had with him. Right, Kagome?"

Kagome nodded, her thoughts obviously elsewhere; somewhere under a few thousand pounds of rock, for example.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Aaargh!" said Aerie meanwhile, kicking a rock.

"Careful," warned Miroku, "if we move the wrong stone we could bring the whole place down on our heads."

"So what do you suggest, monk?" Inuyasha growled. "We sit around here forever?"

"I said 'careful,' I didn't say, 'leave the rocks alone,'" Miroku responded serenely. "It is best not to be rash."

"Rash, smash," Aerie retorted.

"Precisely," said Miroku. Aerie muttered something incoherent and flopped down with her back against a larger piece of their prison. She wondered if Trisak was alright. She hoped he was. No, she knew he was. He was very accomplished at staying alive. He practically had a PhD in it.

"If I just had Tetsusaiga…" Inuyasha grumbled.

"If you had Tetsusaiga, we would all be flat," Miroku pointed out. "Let us see if there is some way to escape that is a bit less direct than you attempting to pulverize all this stone before it crushes us to death."

"You could suck it into your wind tunnel," Aerie suggested. Miroku looked doubtful. He glanced up at his staff and Tetsusaiga, wedged where they had been since two lucky jabs in the roaring dark of the collapsing cave had turned them into roof supports. Aerie's stave, being only wood, had splintered. "OK, maybe not," the girl admitted. "Although it might be better to be alive without your weapons than dead with them."

"I am _not_ letting the monk suck up my Tetsusaiga!" Inuyasha protested loudly. Something above them shifted with a loud, stony moan, and everyone froze. When it became clear that they weren't going to be flattened yet, they relaxed again.

Aerie's stomach growled loudly, reminding her that dinner had been aeons ago. "This is all very well," she said, "well, no it isn't, but you know what I mean. But what are we going to _eat_ in here?"

"We could always eat Miroku," Inuyasha suggested acidly.

"Or you could not," Miroku put in.

And there you have it::victorious fanfare: Another chapter! Merry Christmas! Did that make a nice present? I hope it has made some of my beloved reviewers come back again. Has it? Huh? Huh?

**Sango:** Is it just me, or am I getting to be the sanest person around an awful lot in this fic?

**Aerie:** You're a reliable, levelheaded person, that's all!

**Sango: **Well, I can certainly see how _that_ could be useful around here.

**Trisak:** (:from offstage:) Sasquatch!

**Sango:**My point exactly.

**Miroku: **Why were there two references to my being eaten in this chapter? I hope this isn't foreshadowing….

**Kileb:** I wasn't in this chapter!

**TrisakA: **Uhmm…I'm sorry?

**Kileb:** I don't think you are.

**TrisakA: **Sure I am!

**Kileb:** Prove it!

**TrisakA:** No!

**Trisak: **Sasquatch!

**baf: **Sure she is!

**Kileb:** You think so?

**Sango:** Of course she is; you allow her to torture people.

**Lelentaeli: **.

**Sango: **?

**Kileb:** He doesn't talk anymore unless I tell him to.

**Trisak: **SASQUATCH! (:runs into room with a sasquatch in hot pursuit.:)

**Sasquatch: (**:enters, looks around, picks up everyone, and walks away with them:)

**Aerie:** (:hanging upside down in the sasquatch's arms:) What _is_ a sasquatch, anyway?

**Trisak: ** Something like Bigfoot, I believe.


	17. Of Speech Bubbles and Badly Mended Gates

New chapter! Sorry it's short. I think making them eight pages long is part of the reason for the quality decline. But baf has been posting, and I really must keep up!

HURRAY! WE'VE PASSED A HUNDRED REVIEWS! EVEN IF SOME OF THEM ARE THINGS LIKE SILVERFINGERS RESPONDING TO REVIEWS, FROM BEFORE THE REVIEW REPLY FUNCTION WAS INSTALLED! YAY! Everybody gets one of the cupcakes I just took out of the oven, 'cause you're cool people. Oh, and welcome, Al's-best-friend, since you made the 100th review.

Dedication: This one's for Helen, even if she does keep insisting I'm a vampire.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Kagome, Kouga, Ginta, Hakkaku, Kagura, and Naraku are the property of Rumiko Takahashi-sensei, as is this interpretation of the Sengoku Jidai. I claim literary rights to Aerie, Trisak, Kileb, Erisu, the wolves, and Yanagi.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Kouga turned out not to take much finding. He had left a trail in his rush toward them and back, and by the time they were halfway there Shippou and Kirara could both smell wolf.

And no wonder. Kouga came into view below them amid what was more or less a sea of fur. Nearly three hundred wolves. What were they eating? Sango wondered, and tried not to think queasily of the massacred villages they had first located Kouga in. Surely he wasn't feeding his wolves human, she told herself, there weren't even any around here. She turned her thoughts forcibly back to the sheer numbers. Half Japan must have lost its wolf population by now.

"Well, look at it this way," she said, craning her neck to look downward, "they'll be able to dig through a mountain in no time at all."

"But there's hundreds of them, Sango! They won't all be able to _reach!_" exclaimed the pink globe which floated beside them, beginning to bounce slowly up and down on Sango's head. Shippou had transformed to lessen the weight on poor Kirara, who was not used to carrying three, but he seemed to have forgotten this.

"I wonder what Kouga's done to the ecology by dragging them along," murmured Kagome. Aerie tended to rub off on people.

As soon as Kirara had settled gratefully onto a high rock and they had both slid off her back, Kagome set off in Kouga's direction, threading her way through the crowd of wolves. They ignored her, although a few of them eyed her friends not without interest.

"Uhm, Kagome?" Sango called. "Are you sure that's safe?"

"No!" she called back. "Tell me if it looks like anyone's going to try to eat me!"

Kouga had looked around at the sound of Kagome's name. It would have been fairly amazing that he had failed to notice a giant flaming feline descending from on high, except that he was standing, feet braced, between two large, angry wolves, holding them apart through brute strength and apparently reprimanding them soundly. "Kagome!" he called over his shoulder. "Welcome! Where's dog-breath? Just let me finish up here and I'll be right with you!" he went on, not waiting for an answer. He went back to the wolves. They were beginning to look penitent as Kagome approached him from behind. "And don't let me see you doing anything like that again, you understand?" he said, looking from one to the other. "No fighting. We all know I'm the head of this pack, right?" The two wolves, either of whom could have taken Kagome's head off in one bite, whined agreement. Kouga let go of them and they slunk away looking shamefaced. "Now, Kagome, I'm so pleased to see you," he said, spinning and taking her hand without missing a beat.

Kagome wondered how to point out that his right hand, which had been holding the more russet-coated wolf by the jaw, was still covered in wolf slobber. There didn't seem to be a good way to say this, so she tried to ignore it and smile at him. She needed his help, after all. "Nice to see you too, Kouga," she said.

"Of course it is," he said, looking pleased. "Oh, and you brought some of your friends," he added, looking over her shoulder at the rock, where Shippou had just decided to stop being a giant beach ball with teeth. "Well, I guess we can make room for them if you really want me to, Kagome. Have you finally got tired of looking after the puppy and come to stay?"

"Well, not exactly, Kouga," said Kagome, looking as sad about this as she dared without encouraging him _too_ much. "It's actually about Inuyasha that I'm here."

"What's he done now? He just doesn't know how to appreciate a beautiful woman. I'll settle him!"

Kagome, predictably, blushed. "Oh, no, that's all right, Kouga. I really wish you two wouldn't fight."

Kouga's chest inflated a little further. "Well, anything for you, you know that. I won't hurt the puppy unless he starts it, I promise."

"Amazing," Sango remarked to Shippou. "How does she do it? She's got him eating out of her hand."

"I eat out of her hand, too, when she brings back candy," Shippou said. "I hope she doesn't give him any…"

"Thank you, Kouga," said Kagome, her voice dripping flattery, "you're always so reasonable. I was wondering if you could do me a favour…."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"What are we digging for, again?" Ginta asked Hakkaku, dumping another load of rocks. The slope was thick with enthusiastically excavating wolves. Kouga had them working in loosely defined shifts; when he noticed them getting tired he'd shout for a new crew. Ginta and Hakkaku hadn't gotten time off yet.

"The hanyou, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but why are we trying to get _him_ out? I mean, it's not like we're friends with him or anything…"

"But _I'm_ going to kill him, not any old load of rocks," said Kouga, sliding down the slope with a boulder held over his head. Ginta and Hakkaku leapt out of the way as it came thudding down. "Besides," he added more quietly, looking over at Kagome, who was perched on top of a giant stone, handing smaller ones down to Sango, who handed them to Shippou, who staggered down the hill with them and dropped them on the growing pile of rocks-no-longer-on-top-of-Inuyasha-Miroku-Aerie-and-Trisak, "if he's dead she'll have to see a body before she'll forget about him, won't she?"

"Oh," said Ginta. "OK."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

_Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok. Thok._

"What the _hell_ are you _doing,_ wench?" Inuyasha demanded finally.

Aerie looked over at him, somewhat startled. "Carving," she said, holding up the small knife and rock she had been using as hammer and chisel for proof. "I think this wall is a slab of limestone," she explained. "See?" Inuyasha bent down to see. Aerie had, after numerous false starts, produced a witchlight like the one Trisak had had, although Inuyasha was getting tired of everything being shades of purple.

She had carved a few stars and spirals and a handprint, then hammered out three foot-high figures that looked vaguely like the three of them, and put speech bubbles over their heads. Inuyasha, unable to read the English, looked at her suspiciously but couldn't actually pin her down for anything. She gave him a look of complete innocence and went back to carving.

Inuyasha went back to pacing. One. Two. Three. Step over Miroku, four. Five. Six. Seven. Roof's too low to stand up anymore but if you hunch over eight, nine, turn around and start over again. One. Two. Three… "Aarrrrrrrrrgh!" he growled, the noise reverberating in the small space.

Miroku rolled over, then sat up. "D'you have to do that, Inuyasha?" he asked drowsily, rubbing the back of his head. His recently cropped hair, mussed by the forty-seven times he had already rolled over trying to find a comfortable spot on the rocks, was starting to stand up, making him look like some sort of black dandelion. "Some people want to sleep."

"How can you _sleep_ at a time like _this?_" Inuyasha demanded.

"Better than worrying, isn't it?"

"Nothing we can do," Aerie agreed. "Besides, it saves air. Who knows how much we've got left?"

"And that's something _else_ to worry about," muttered the hanyou, throwing himself down in a corner and crossing his arms. One thing the space they were trapped in _did _have was an abundance of corners. Various chunks of stone and dangerously bulging heaps of rocks made up seven uneven walls, while the ceiling was comprised of two separate slabs, wedged up partially by Miroku's staff and the Tetsusaiga. "You _sure_ you can't suck the ceiling down your hellhole as soon as I grab Tetsusaiga?" he asked one more time.

"If you pull out your sword, we'll be crushed from _every_ direction," Miroku told him patiently. "I can only face one way. Please excuse me, I'm going back to sleep. You still can't eat me." He flopped over sideways, remarked "ow," and then did indeed appear to become dead to the world.

_I can't believe we're just sitting here waiting to be rescued,_ Inuyasha thought. _This is **not **how I do things. What if they've decided we have to be dead and gone away? _He sighed._ OK, so Kagome wouldn't do that. But she also can't dig us out of here all by herself. Even with Sango and her cat helping, it'll take them a thousand years to get to us. Blast it, I feel so **helpless**!_ He raised his fist to punch the wall, then thought better of it and put the hand back in his lap. Steady, steady. He wasn't ready to commit suicide yet by any means.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"You squished them?" said Kileb, his eyebrows slightly raised, his mouth graced by a cheerful smile reminiscent of the one Hiten had worn just before punching through a woman's face. "The girl and the one with wings, too? I had _particularly_ wanted to pay my respects to dear old Trisak."

"You completely ignored him yesterday," said Naraku boredly. He had resolved not to celebrate Inuyasha's death-by-rocks until he was quite certain, since one of the most embarrassing things that can happen to a villain is to have the hero come slicing his way into the celebration of his own demise.

Kileb made an irritated hissing noise and seemed to decide not to bother getting angry at Naraku. "Of course I did. That was to annoy him. He always did love to be the center of attention," he said scathingly, with a certain irony which he did not appear to notice, although Naraku did. "Anyway, now you've squished him and he's gotten away from me," he continued, pouting slightly. His ability to rapidly and totally shift emotional states was something that never ceased to astound Naraku. "I _do_ hope the girl isn't dead already. It would be so _anticlimactic._" The redhead heaved a deep sigh and leaned back on his cushions. Naraku continued to sit in the region of deepest shadow. They held this silent tableau for some minutes, before Kileb bounced into a sitting position again. "Oooh!" he said. "You'll never guess!"

"What will I not guess?" asked Naraku.

"Guess!"

"You have decided to join a whorehouse and become an _oiran,_" said Naraku sarcastically, somehow managing to indicate that he did not find this such an unlikely thing for Kileb to decide. To achieve, possibly.

Kileb drew himself up. "I _beg_ your pardon," he said haughtily. "Do I _look_ to you like a woman of easy virtue? Don't answer that," he added, flopping backward. "No, I have not decided anything of the kind." He rummaged under a cushion and pulled out a floppy object. "I've got bagpipes!"

Naraku did all he could not to flinch. "I hope you understand that there is no chance of my playing those," he said.

"Aw, come on!"

"No."

"Pleeeeease?"

"No!"

Yanagi edged away slowly from the peeking hole. This was not good. All plans would have to be postponed until they knew whether the dog and his squad were still alive. And if they weren't, everything would have to be rearranged. Everything hinged on getting them into the castle before everyone died. She would have to start plotting again now, just in case the hanyou never came out again. Curse it all, she _needed_ him! He had better not have gotten himself killed.

She hurried down to the kitchen. The cook and Erisu were alone in it at this hour. Erisu was bent over some kind of dry root, patiently grating it. "Erisu?" she said.

Erisu looked up. "Yes?"

"We need to arrange twenty-four hour surveillance up there. We can't afford to miss anything anymore. There've been some unexpected developments, so head up the north side and get everybody who's there. I'll take the south."

"Alright, General," said Erisu wearily, standing up and putting the roots aside. She turned around suddenly. "Yanagi?" she asked. "Look, I know you're much cleverer than I am, but…are you sure this will work? I mean, are you sure it's worth all this work? Mightn't it be better to just forget about it?"

Yanagi sighed inside. Oh, dear. She started to give Erisu a pep talk, then stopped. After all, it was only the two of them. She didn't have to worry about keeping the group together, and Erisu deserved not to be treated like a child. Child? Yanagi was irritated with herself. Erisu was ten years older than Yanagi. If anything it should be the other way round. "No," she said, "I'm not entirely sure it will work. Things go wrong. No one's ever tried what we're doing before. But am I sure it's worth it? Completely. If we let ourselves give up, we're nothing. The youkai think we're spineless worms. I don't think we should let them be right."

"Lovely speech," commented Kagura from the door. "Did I hear you're calling a meeting? Might interest you to know that I've got to take the unpronounceable blonde out to the cave where Naraku thinks he's squashed the dog for surveillance, so I'll be gone for a while."

"Thank you, Kagura."

"Don't mention it. Especially around Naraku."

"As if I ever speak around him."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Time to call it a night, wouldn't you agree, Kagome?" asked Kouga. The sun had sunk an hour ago, and work was proceeding by two days' waxing worth of moon, which was quite a thin sliver. Ginta, Hakkaku, Shippou, and most of the wolves had drifted off to a flattish spot not too far away to sleep. (There had been a brief and almost very unpleasant incident before Kouga explained to the pack that Shippou was neither available for consumption nor a furry toy.) Kagome could barely stay upright, although she was still attempting to move stones, and Sango seemed to have achieved the feat of falling asleep on her feet, mechanically carrying stones to where they needed to be without seeming to be aware of her surroundings, except when her grip occasionally slipped and she dropped a rock on her toe. Kirara's pads were bleeding slightly.

"But they could still be down there…could suffocate," Kagome protested.

"But you can't do them any good if you kill yourself, can you?" asked Kouga. "The job's half done. Come, my beauty, it's time for you to sleep." He swept her up in his arms and she struggled.

"Hey…too familiar," she said thickly. The last time he had picked her up, he had been kidnapping her, and had thrown her over his shoulder. She was not much happier about it this time.

"Oh, very well," he said grumpily, setting her down. "Remember, though, Kagome, you're still my woman."

"Whatever." She had to admit to herself, though, that he was right. Not about her being his woman, of course, about it being time to rest.

She tottered over to Sango. "Sango, time to stop," she said. When this produced no response, she poked the woman in the arm. "Sango?" She gripped the arm and shook it slightly. "Sango?" The taijiya twitched, jerking away, overbalanced, clutched at Kagome for support (no one has very much experience at waking up standing on a hill; it can muddle the best of us) and brought the both of them tumbling head over heels down the slope.

"Na?" said Sango in confusion, only half-awake. She possessed just the presence of mind to curl herself up into a defensive ball, although she wasn't sure what was going on, and to let go of Kagome so she could fall on her own.

"Ow! Agh! Ow! Yah! Ow! Ow! Ow!" said Kagome, before she fetched up against a large boulder. Sango continued to the bottom and stayed where she was, waiting for the dizziness to go away. "Mom, I think the gate at the top of the shrine steps is broken again," said Kagome vaguely, reliving a childhood occasion on which she had fallen down those long steps. "Don't let Grampa fix it this time. I think he forgot the bit where you fasten things together."

"Definitely time for bed," said Kouga, and he and Kirara helped the muddled humans over to the flattish bit. Kouga couldn't have been more pleased. Surely Kagome would see that he was better than the puppy! Several minutes later he retreated with a slap mark on his face.

"You alright, Kouga?" asked Hakkaku, roused by the earlier hullabaloo.

"Fine," he growled, setting off to look for a place of his own to sleep. "My Kagome's just a little feisty. What're you looking at?"

"Nothing, Prince Kouga! Nothing!"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Heh. And that's that. D'you know, during the first draft of the beginning of that I got confused and had Miroku with the folks on Kirara? It's so _hard_ to separate him from Sango and Shippou in my head these days! Then he was in the scene underground and I went 'waaaaait…' Because unless he had recently mastered the trick of being in two places at once, something wasn't right.

:Chibi Naraku runs past, hotly pursued by Kileb with bagpipes:

And, you know, I'm really thinking maybe the only reason Kileb hasn't 'gotten mad' at Naraku yet is because not doing it is so much the worse punishment… Hehehehe….

Trisak: Can I co-host your author's notes while I'm MIA in the story?

TrisakA: Uhm…sure.

Trisak: Right, folks, and here we are in the Sengoku Jidai. I'm Trisak the Amadaun, here with my co-host

Trisak Aminawn. Well, the drama's cooling but Inuyasha, Aerie, and the monk are buried alive, and poor defenseless Kagome is left with Prince Kouga of the wolf clan. What do you think, mon Ami?

TrisakA: I think that I changed my mind. Gimmee that microphone!


	18. Of Marvel Comics and Invertebrate Elves

6/18/2006

On a fine April morning which was in fact afternoon but felt like morning I was looking over this story, and when I realized that the last six chapters had taken me a year I felt very guilty. (The way I knew this was that I mentioned my birthday cake in a review reply in chapter twelve. Ye gods! When did years get so short? Of course, four months spent sulking helped with the whole delay thing…)

And two months after that I finally had a postable chapter. Did anybody remember that this story existed? Well, it's back, and drawing toward its conclusion. Here goes! Gomen nasai, minna!

Dedication: To Grandma.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing. I am in a state of total non-ownership. Nothing is mine. Even my ideas are stolen out of the head of the rather better author who has my brain on time-share when I'm asleep. Even that joke was stolen from Terry Pratchett's explanation of the Luggage in _The Art of Discworld._ So you see I have nothing. Except sixty-three dollars in change that I spent twenty minutes counting after I dumped it out of my piggie bank that isn't shaped like a pig.

**

* * *

**

Oh, yes. It was all very well for Naraku's new business associate to send her to fetch his slave (actually it wasn't well at all and if Naraku hadn't been in the room, with that crazed glint in he'd had in his eye lately, she would have told the redhead just where he could put his orders) but he could have at least told her where to look! He wasn't in the kitchen, although she hadn't expected him to be. She'd only gone there to rendezvous with Yanagi. He wasn't in his little room, which was so much a closet she wondered if she had been right about the elf spending his off-duty time folded up on a shelf, which she had meant as a jibe.

In the end it was only by chance that she raised her head after examining the courtyard for signs of life (which signs consisted of a single beetle) and saw the patch of green on the top of the wall. She rolled her eyes, drew her feather, and gusted herself up to him. "Tch," she said. He was slumped on the narrow outer wall like a puppet whose strings had been cut, staring out across the uninspiring view. She had never seen a living thing look so dead. "Stop acting like you're both inanimate and invertebrate," she told him, "and come with me. Your boss wants you."

Lelentaeli flowed upright and leapt onto the feather, and Kagura wafted them toward the entrance. There was something she did not like about the green and grey shadows who had followed Kileb here. They were…what was the word…creepy. Yes. Kagura had no prior experience with things feeling creepy, not even when Goshinki had been reading her mind, but she thought this was probably it.

"Look," she said as they disembarked. He looked at her. His face could not have been more devoid of expression had it been a melon. "I'm putting my heart on the line to say this," she said, "but if you've got any mind left behind those big green eyes I suggest you start using it now. Naraku's servants are hatching a scheme and brewing a plot and all that rot. I know you hate your master. I'd rather have you with us than against us."

The elf regarded her stonily for several seconds. If Kagura had had a heart in her breast she was sure it would have been beating half again normal time. She _could_ have miscalculated. Then Lelentaeli met her eyes, laid a finger to his lips, and darted inside.

"And you can't hold a conversation!" Kagura called after him.

* * *

Kileb was designing a 'whoseewhatsit.' He designed them whenever he needed to do something he didn't have a particular set way to do already. A finished whoseewhatsit could look rather like an ornate sort of fetish, but it had been carefully assembled from whatever came to hand according to a careful pattern that he made up as he went along. All that said, they worked, although the occasional whoseewhatsit worked very well for making coffee when what he'd wanted was a death ray.

The current whoseewhatsit was a seek-and-find-er for Aghenu, the Lady Queen. He was fairly sure that Naraku hadn't really squished her, even in that human shape she seemed to have taken to after he bound her there. She had beaten him back rather neatly in that tower, hadn't she? He felt bad about the tower. It had been a nice place. He'd done a good job circumventing physics there. He'd go back after he was done tormenting Naraku.

He looked up. Lelentaeli was standing woodenly several yards away. "Oh, there you are," he said, as if the elf hadn't been standing there for five minutes. "You were supposed to get another 'treatment' today. You're overdue, and I do so look forward to the screaming." Kileb smiled at Lelentaeli, who responded not at all. The redhead shrugged. "Lucky for you Naraku dropped a mountain on the queen and her Amadaun, so I need you to go watch the place to see if they come out and accost them if they do. You _will_ behave properly this time, I trust?" An elegant arching of eyebrow.

Lelentaeli bowed. A less careful eye than Kileb's might have missed the slight quivering in his limbs. "Of course, milord," he said.

"See that you do. I think I impressed upon you the importance. Oh…if you see a suitable opportunity, though, you have my permission to behave as though you have defected and join up with them. You'll like that, won't you? Friendly company at last. Save the betrayal for the most painful moment."

Lelentaeli bowed again. "Of course, milord," he said.

"Oh, do say something else, there's a good chap," replied Kileb. "I know I provided you with a good three dozen acceptable phrases, straight from the Thrallmaster's Handbook."

Lelentaeli considered. "Very good, sir?" he tried.

"The butler did it," remarked Kileb. "Yes, yes, hurry off, Jeeves. The breeze-girl is transport again today. Coordinates eighteen six two by five three one, if she doesn't know where she's going." He went back to his whoseewhatsit, apparently forgetting that his slave existed.

Lelentaeli bowed for a third time and slipped off. Kileb hummed quietly. "_Nothing matters / But knowing nothing matters / It's just life…_" he sang pleasantly to the object taking shape under his fingers.

* * *

It was just like house cleaning.

That was what Kagome told herself. She could handle it just fine. Just like house cleaning.

Provided the house in question was subject to periodic explosions and the occupants had a religious objection to picking anything up. The sort of house where the floor is a legend akin to the phoenix.

Say, a house inhabited by teenage boys. Maybe a house inhabited by five of Inuyasha for a few months. Yeah, that would do it. He had a flair for calamity. Anyway, she would prove herself equal to the cleaning even in such a domicile, and then pray never to encounter one.

She looked up the slope. They had made excellent progress. Sango was at the top, bossing wolves around. They seemed to have taken a liking to her. Kouga was sulking. Kagome wasn't sure what about, but he had SULK written all across his visage in giant grey kanji. Oh well. At least he was still helping. Right now he had his shoulder to a roughly spherical rock that had to weigh twelve times what he did. Demons had certain advantages like that, hm?

The stone rolled away, bumping down the hill at a steadily increasing rate. Shippou darted into the cavity left behind and began to scoop out gravel and stones, accidentally showering Kouga just as the wolf prince struck a dashing pose. Kagome tried not to laugh, but it was difficult as Kouga fished pebbles out of his breastplate, with a studied expression of nonchalance. Shippou continued to burrow like a large junior mole, calling out to Inuyasha in his piping voice.

* * *

"Alright." Inuyasha very nearly spat out the word. It contained all the force one expects it to have at the end of an argument, when the speaker is ceding the battle gracelessly, but unless Inuyasha had been telepathically communing with her subconscious, he and Aerie hadn't argued for thirteen minutes and twenty-three point six four two nine seconds.

"Huh?" said Aerie, appropriately enough.

"What did you write beside your little drawings?" It was clear he felt that his not knowing was an intentional personal affront to himself on Aerie's part. The argument, the girl surmised, had been with himself over lowering himself enough to ask.

She shrugged and tapped the first drawing, the one wearing a robe and carrying a staff. "Well, this Miroku one is complaining about his hair. This one's me," she went on, pointing to the next sketch. "I'm saying 'Welcome to Japan. May I take your order? Thank you, do you want a disaster with that?' And this one's—" she broke off and smiled, the somewhat desperate smile of an amateur conman who has just realized he's playing against an old and expert card sharper and is wondering how he is going to leave the table with the shirt on his back. "Well, it's—"

"Inuyaaasha!" a high, youthful shout slipped between the stones of their little dungeon. Three heads snapped up.

"Shippou!" exclaimed Aerie. She raised her voice. "SHIPPOU!" she hollered at the top of her lungs. Inuyasha winced and covered his ears, giving her a resentful look, but did nothing to get back at her, which came as a surprise. There was a beat of time with no response, and each of the three captives had time to think they might have imagined the little fox's voice, and then he replied, in a muffled sort of way, as if through a very thick wall,

"Aerie? Oh, you're ok, I'm glad! Is Inuyasha there? Kagome's been so worried! Miroku? Miroku's ok, right? What about the dragonfly-man? Aerie?"

"Inuyasha and Miroku and I are fine!" she yelled, to another wince and glare from the hanyou. Tough luck for him. He could suck it up, she told herself. She had been smiling at Shippou's string of questions without gaps for either answers or breath, but had abruptly ceased at the mention of Trisak, whose status she had been avoiding considering. No, shut up, he's been around for millions of years; he's not about to let some little mountain take him down. "We hope to stay fine, but could you get us out of here before Inuyasha eats someone?"

"_Eats_ someone!" Shippou shrieked in distress. "Inuyasha, don't _eat_ anybody! Kagome would sit you into the fire she says is in the middle of the world!"

"I'm not eating anybody, whelp!" Inuyasha shouted. "Now dig!"

"I have been diggi– Hey, Kouga, no fair, I just found them, you can't pull me – Aaaaaaaah!" The last cry faded into the distance; Aerie presumed that Kouga had thrown him, and hoped the little fox wouldn't be hurt when he landed. What was Kouga doing up there anyway?

"Hoi, puppy," called Kouga's voice, "you alive?"

"What do you think, asshole?" replied the voice of Inuyasha.

"No, we're dead," put in Aerie, with sarcasm so thick you could have cut chunks out of it and roasted them. "That's why we're talking to you. Get us out of here!"

"Is he there?" shouted Kagome aboveground, voice thick with worry.

"Yes!" Kouga called back, his well-trained self-esteem burying his disappointment in the matter.

"_Yessssssss!_" shrieked Kagome, jumping for joy. A fist punched the air. Her smile was so wide Sango wondered that it didn't hurt her face. "Thank you so much, Kouga, I really owe you one now!"

"Is Miroku all right?" the taijiya asked. Not waiting for the answer, she dropped down beside the wolf prince and cupped her hands to her mouth to holler, "Lord monk! You there?" There was silence in reply and her heart skipped a beat. Kagome's merry face grew grave. "Monk! Speak, Miroku. Are you down there?" There was another long beat of silence, and then the monk's voice filtered up.

"Here, Lady Sango." He sounded the auditory equivalent of blurry.

"Are you alright?" the taijiya asked anxiously.

"He's fine, Sango," Aerie called up. "He's just been sleeping. Miroku! Stop angling for sympathy!"

Sango grinned in relief. The houshi was fine. "Thump him for me, would you?" she requested. "But not too hard," she added after a moment's consideration.

"No, I can't do that, we're friends." Aerie answered.

"Thank you, Aerie-" began Miroku gratefully.

"So Inuyasha, you do it." The girl finished. The monk let out a groan.

"Ok, sorry to break up the touching reunion," said Inuyasha, after a cursory thumping of Miroku, "but are you gonna get us out of here or not, flea-brain?"

"Depends, dog-breath," replied Kouga, smirking. "Are you gonna ask me nicely?"

"_Why, you-_"

"Please, Kouga," said Kagome, touching the wolf's elbow and making him jump. She had scrambled up the slope during the discussion and was now craning over everyone's shoulders, as if expecting to see Inuyasha's head sticking out of the floor. "I've asked you nicely already."

"But it's not you I'm rescuing this time, Kagome," Kouga pointed out.

Kagome sighed. She knew she could get him to give in with just a little persuasion, but on the other hand he had a point. And it would do Inuyasha some good to have to ask politely. She called his name. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Kagome, I can," he answered, voice dropping into a gentler key than usual. "You're alright?"

"Of course. Are you?"

"Fine. But Tetsusaiga is starting to bend."

"Why are you telling me about the health of your sword?"

"Because it's holding up the ceiling, wench!" he snapped, reverting to his usual tone.

Kagome's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh! Kouga, we've got to start digging again right away!"

There was a certain miffed quality to the prince's bearing as he turned to start directing his 'children' to begin clearing away around the hole he and Shippou had made. Through conference with the prisoners it was established that a particular slab was the one being held up by the bending sword, and through inspection it was established that there were an awful lot of rocks on top of it that had to be dealt with before Aerie, Inuyasha, and Miroku could be released from their tomb.

* * *

About two hours had passed. By this time, Inuyasha and Kouga were no longer speaking to one another. All communication was relayed through Kagome. Luckily, they were a good deal closer now, separated by only one sheet of rock, so her throat was not quite raw. The slab had finally been freed, but the edges had turned out to be so closely laid against the surrounding rocks that no one could get hold of it. Even Shippou's tiny fingers couldn't fit into the crack. Inuyasha could have lifted it from within, but no one was sure that the whole place wouldn't collapse when the lid came off, so he was needed for bracing the walls. The problem had already been worried at for ten minutes without any breakthroughs.

"Aha!" said Kouga suddenly, unsheathing the sword that was always at his side with a _shik_ and holding it aloft so that it caught the sinking light of the sun. "I always knew this would come in useful some day."

"What?" demanded Inuyasha. "What's the moron going to do?"

"He's taken out his sword," Kagome replied.

"He has a sword?"

"You never noticed?"

"No," answered the great hero, put out. "How come you have a sword, flea brain?"

"He wants to know why you carry a sword, Kouga."

"I'm a prince, aren't I?" responded Kouga. "Far be it from me, my fair lady, to be seen without the symbol of my rank."

"I'm guessing you're going to use that as a lever," said Sango. "Isn't that bad for the blade?"

"It's not as if I use the thing," replied Kouga with a shrug. "We may need two, though. Give me yours."

"No!"

Meanhwhile, underground… 

"While they finish with that, you tell me about this drawing," directed Inuyasha.

Aerie jumped. "What? But, Inuaysha, why? It's just a doodle."

"You seemed a little too relieved to get out of telling me about it."

Aerie spread her hands and cast her eyes heavenward. "Oh, Inuyasha, of course I was relieved! They were rescuing us!"

"You weren't all that worried about being trapped here in the first place, as far as I could tell."

Aerie couldn't confess that this was because she possessed the assurance that they would get out of it somehow, due to being in a story and therefore having to expire in a climactic manner. Knowing that your life is subject to narrative causality can do funny things to the motivation. If you happen to be the hero and you find this out, it can do funny things to the story. Proud, stubborn, and taciturn Inuyasha might be, but Aerie knew who her unfriendly neighborhood hero was.

Besides all that, he wasn't likely to believe her anyway. "I was worried," was her assurance, "I just hid it really well."

Although, Aerie mused, maybe she got to be a sort of visiting hero. After all, she came with a villain. It could be like what Marvel comics did. 'Guest starring Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, and Aerie Gannon.'

Er. Maybe not. She wondered if Daredevil and Inuyasha would get along. Probably not. All they had in common was fighting, lunacy, and good hearing. Oh, and nice red uniforms.

"Keh," said Inuyasha. "Fine, then. You didn't care about telling me. So tell me."

Aerie stonewalled, ineffectively. "What, now?" she asked, as if such a thing were absurd.

"Now."

"But we're about to get out."

"Better hurry up, then."

Eyes locked. There was a brief battle of wills. Aerie lost, rather to her surprise.

She turned to her final doodle. It had by far the largest speech bubble, as tall and as wide as the figure with which it went. The triangles perched atop its head made trying to lie about it being Inuyasha a lost cause. She cleared her throat, addressed a mental prayer to whatever supernatural entity might happen to be paying attention, and narrated, " 'Lady Sango, that was your name wasn't it?' " Aboveground, Sango covered her face. Not this. Why did Aerie have to drag up the most disturbing thing that had happened in the miserable…one, two…seven days they had known her? " 'Please, you are so beautiful. Grace me with another smile, for it is like the rise of the sun.' " Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Aerie were all writhing. Kouga was nonplussed. No one dared to look at Inuyasha to see his reaction. " 'You reassure this unworthy one that there is hope left in a confusing world.' That's, er, a direct quote," she added, closing her eyes against Inuyasha's impending ire and wondering if she should add, 'please make it a quick death' to that as well. Dammit, why hadn't she _lied!_

Seconds passed, and she didn't die, unless the experience was a whole lot less dramatic than she had been led to believe. She cracked an eyelid. Inuyasha had 'trauma victim' written all over him.

"I really said that?" he asked. Aerie opened her eyes all the way, trying not to be relieved since she had obviously just done a very cruel thing.

Not to worry. The color was already coming back into his face. His fists clenched furiously. "_Damn_ that Kileb! He should have someone messing up the inside of _his_ head some time, see how he likes it! I wish to hell I was in his mind right now!"

It took a moment for Aerie to remember certain facts. About midnight spells and café lattes and things Inuyasha should not say. The same moment that it took the over-ground crew to finally get the lid off, for Miroku's lips to form an 'o' of horror, and for all three of the formerly buried to start to glow. To glow blue. Trisak's blue, the color of his eyes when he was very angry, a state she had seen him in twice and would live her life happily without seeing ever again.

There were no swearwords strong enough, so she didn't use any. "Inuyasha," she said, "I am so, so sorry you're an idiot."

Someone was shouting. The world began to look scrambled, as if some deity had decided that what he really, _really_ wanted for breakfast was Sengoku Omelet. There was a green blur and a flash of blonde hair, and then a sensation that she was almost sure was a body crashing into her.

And then the world went away.

* * *

And that seemed like a good stopping-point. Next chapter should be considerably faster, because I've got lots of stuff written and school's out for the summer. Yes, it's odd: Kouga does have a sword, and he has never to my knowledge noticed it. And yes, I've been planning what just came to pass for a long time. Cue evil laughter.

**Sango: **So...where are they going?

**TrisakA:** You'll see.

**Sango: **Bet I know.

**TrisakA:** Bet you do.

**Kagome:** Sakusha-san, is it just me, or did you not manage to get this chapter written until you worked on it at four in the morning?

**TrisakA:** Not just you. That's the only time my frontal lobe is out of commission enough to allow me to commit this kind of thing. Another stumbling block in the path of writing fanfiction during the school year. But oooh, oooh, guess what I got!

**Inuyasha:** The All-New Guide to the Humiliation of Defenseless Characters?

**TrisakA: **Close, but no cigar. I got a Japanese Grammar book! Ooh, ooh, you guys, is it really true that Japanese verbs don't conjugate differently for different persons? And that you leave the subject out whenever you can? And that there's no future tense? Is it _really true_ that you only have two irregular verbs? And these things called particles, they do the jobs of prepositions plus some other jobs and they always come after the word they modify, and, and, and… :D!

**Naraku:** (shakes head) A grammar geek. Very sad.

**Trisak:** … (hits him with a pie.)


End file.
